States » EastPosted at: Jun 29 2025 1:32PM


Digital technologies are reshaping food practices in urban India: New research by IIT Guwahati

Guwahati, June 29 (UNI) Digital technologies are reshaping food practices in urban India in ways that reinforce existing caste, class, and gender hierarchies.
Online reviews on food delivery applications and social media platforms are also changing food practices and consumption patterns.
A new research conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG) has brought to the fore these amazing facts about how digital technologies are influencing the consumer behaviour and changing the consumption patterns.
Conducted by Dr Rituparna Patgiri, Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Guwahati, the study explores how the digitisation of food influences consumer behaviour while simultaneously changing social dynamics such as class, caste, and labour.
The Findings of this research have been published in the prestigious Sociological Bulletin (SAGE Publications) journal.
"The research found that ‎digital food practices and cultures have become a habitual part of people’s lives, especially among the urban Indian middle-class youth. Digital technologies such as food ordering applications, and online reviews on social media platforms have been gradually integrated into everyday culinary habits," said the researchers while adding that food economies are also becoming platform-dependent.
"Platforms providing services such as search, social media and content aggregation are becoming digital gatekeepers of access to food-related content. The impact of digitalisation on food has a very specific class and caste character. In India, as this study from New Delhi shows, the online culinary discourse is still very upper-middle-class centred," said the researchers.
"Food has been viewed as a product that moves through five stages—production, distribution, preparation, consumption, and disposal. In this research, I argue that one must now add a sixth stage - digitalisation,” said Dr. Patgiri.
The study’s focus on the under-explored intersection of digital technology and food in Indian Sociology sets it apart from previous studies. Earlier research works have examined how globalisation has impacted food practices in India. However, this study identifies the impact of the digital technology on food as equally transformative.
"The research significantly reveals how digital technologies are reshaping food practices in urban India in ways that reinforce existing caste, class, and gender hierarchies. It shows that digital food culture practices such as food blogging, online review, and aesthetic presentation, are largely confined to upper- and middle-class, and urban groups, while small businesses and lower socio-economic communities are often excluded," said the research.
The study also highlights the need for inclusive digital policies that support marginalised food producers, regulate platform-driven practices, and promote equitable visibility.
It also underscores the importance of using digital platforms for public health messaging and the preservation of diverse culinary traditions.
Overall, the research urges policymakers to address the socio-economic implications of digitalisation in food systems through targeted support, regulation, and cultural inclusion.
As a next step, Dr Patgiri is working on exploring the relationship between digital technology and healthy food habits among urban middle-class youth in India. It is multi-sited qualitative research that is in progress at the moment.
It may be mentioned here that the IITG, established in 1994, completed 25 years of glorious existence in 2019.
At present, the Institute has eleven departments, nine interdisciplinary academic centres and five schools covering all the major engineering, science, healthcare, management, and humanities disciplines, offering BTech, BDes, BSc(Hons), MA, MDes, MTech, MSc, MS(R), MBA and PhD programmes. IIT Guwahati has retained the 7th position among the best engineering institutions in the country, 9th position in ‘Overall’ and 10th position in ‘Research’ Categories in the ‘India Rankings 2024’ declared by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) of the Union Ministry of Education.
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