Journal of Health Psychology 2015, Vol. 20(5) 500–510 © The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1359105315573451 hpq.sagepub.com Introduction Recently, some friends of mine whom I have not seen in a few months decided to get together, as we try to do a few times each year, to catch up on each other’s lives. These friends are very dear to me (I have known many of them for over 25 years), and I was excited about the opportu- nity to spend an evening with them. However, when the time came to select a restaurant where we would meet, I was immediately filled with anxiety. I knew I was the only one in the group who avoided genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and maintained a mostly organic diet. I also knew that none of them, even though they knew about my dietary preferences and even though they cared about me very much, would think about whether or not the restaurant used organic ingredients when making the choice of where we would eat—it was simply too far outside of their everyday thought process. Optimistically, I suggested a place I knew served organic food, hoping others would go along with it. “No thanks, I’ll pass on that hippie food,” responded one of them. Oh well, I thought to myself, I guess I shouldn’t make this night all about me and my preferences. In the end, the group decided on one of the popular new restau- rants in town, one that served typical local com- fort foods and got lots of rave reviews from local magazines and foodie bloggers. To prepare for Avoiding genetically modified foods in GMO Ground Zero: A reflective self-narrative Sachi Edwards Abstract I engage in a reflective self-narrative of my experience attempting to maintain a diet free of genetically modified organisms. Social tension over the genetically modified organism industry in Hawai‘i, United States, has led to public debates over jobs and social identities. Drawing on local media sources, grassroots organizations, and blog posts, I describe the way this tension has shaped my experience with food, eating, and being with others as a genetically modified organism avoider. I utilize discursive positioning to make sense of my experiences by locating them within the ongoing public conversations that give structure to the daily lives of Hawai‘i’s residents. Keywords diet, eating, experience, food, narrative, social interaction University of Maryland, USA Corresponding author: Sachi Edwards, University of Maryland, 695 Kalalea St. Honolulu, HI 96825, USA. Email: sachiteresa@gmail.com 573451HPQ 0 0 10.1177/1359105315573451Journal of Health PsychologyEdwards research-article 2015 Article at UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND on August 20, 2015 hpq.sagepub.com Downloaded from