This study explores how ethical food consumption is framed in the accounts of ordinary people living in affluent societies, with a particular focus on income differences. Research on ethical consumption often associates ‘ethical’ with the consumption of certain predefined products. This study leaves the question of the content of ethical consumption open for empirical investigation. Further, instead of focusing only on the moment of purchasing, this study considers how people with different income levels relate to both food consumption and waste. The analysis draws from qualitative interviews with 60 people living in Canada and Finland. The analysis identified the techniques, subjects and norms through which the question ethical food consumption is posed by the informants and how they framed these issues with regard to income. The findings underline that ethical consumption is a socially constructed, contested and even internally contradictory discourse. Differences in income do not only mean differences in the role that money plays in food choices but also in what kind of consumption people consider worth pursuing. Further, differences in income dictate differences in how people are morally positioned vis-à-vis abundance. For people with a higher level of income, moral blame is asserted on wasteful consumption habits. For the people with a low income, in turn, it is ethically condemnable to refuse to rejoice at the abundance around us. The findings indicate that even in a society where the rhetoric of choice is prominent both as a right and as an obligation by which people ought to display ethical agency, the ethics of choice is tied to the resources available for consumption. People with a severely low income occasionally enjoy the trickling down of abundant treats and surprises. However, for them, occasional indulgence causes not only pleasure but also trouble.

本研究探讨了生活在富裕社会的普通人的账户中如何构建合乎道德的食品消费，特别关注收入差异。对道德消费的研究通常将“道德”与某些预定义产品的消费联系起来。本研究将道德消费的内容问题留给实证研究。此外，本研究不仅关注购买的时刻，还考虑了不同收入水平的人与食物消费和浪费的关系。该分析来自对居住在加拿大和芬兰的 60 人的定性访谈。分析确定了信息提供者提出的道德食品消费问题所采用的技术、主题和规范，以及他们如何将这些问题与收入相关联。调查结果强调，道德消费是一种社会建构的、有争议的甚至内部矛盾的话语。收入的差异不仅意味着金钱在食物选择中所扮演的角色不同，还意味着人们认为值得追求的消费类型不同。此外，收入的差异决定了人们对富足的道德定位的差异。对于收入水平较高的人来说，道德上的责任归咎于浪费的消费习惯。反过来，对于低收入的人来说，拒绝为我们周围的富足而高兴在道德上是应受谴责的。研究结果表明，即使在一个选择修辞作为人们应该表现出道德能动性的权利和义务的突出表现的社会中，选择的伦理与可供消费的资源有关。收入极低的人偶尔会享受丰富的款待和惊喜。然而，对他们来说，偶尔的放纵不仅会带来快乐，还会带来麻烦。