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Chapter 1: Cultural Perspectives
Concepts and Discussion of Culture and Food Habits
WHAT DO AMERICANS EAT?
•America is a changing demographic—and has always been so
• Defining “American food” and resolving "Who is an American?": no simple answer
•Each American ethnic, religious, or regional group has its own culturally based food
habits
WHAT IS FOOD?
• Food: any substance that provides the nutrients necessary to maintain life and growth
when ingested
•The Omnivores Paradox
•Self-Identity and Self-Expression
•Symbolic Use of Food
•Cultural Identity
Food
•We raise crops and livestock leading to consistent supply of similar foods
•We use these foods in cooking and other culturally specific ways
•Examples: rules on utensils, manners, sharing of food
• Food habits = food culture = food ways: the multiplicity of ways in which humans use
food. Range from the biological to the psychological
The Omnivores Paradox
•We are a flexible but cautious species. Attraction to new but preference for familiar
•The ability to use a wide range of edible foods over all of the climates of the world puts
humans at an advantage
•Conserve safe food choices within a culture through ritual and repletion
•Avoid poisoning ourselves on new, toxic foods through a general caution
Self-Identity and Self-Expression
•Consumption of food means a personal incorporationpersonal reflection of who we
are
•We learn food preferences from trusted or valued others (elders, valued social groups)
•These meanings are culturally dependant
Symbolic Use of Food
•Meanings from relationship, association or convention—not nutrient content
•Example: associations with bread: staff of life, breaking bread with friends, white bread
as upper class status, whole wheat as valuing health
Cultural Identity
•Collective identity with food habits associated with religious beliefs or ethnic behaviors
such as ---•Religious affiliation, exclusion from group, affiliation with special worth: comfort foods
& culturally specific preferences, Food Etiquette, Commensalism
WHAT IS CULTURE?
It can be defined as the values, beliefs, attitudes, and practices accepted by members of a
group or community
Culture:
•Is learned not inherited
•Changes over time
•Is passed from one generation to another (Enculturation)
•Is reinforced by isolation
Ethnicity: the term for cultural membership, a social identity
Shared behaviors, food habits, dress, language, family structure, often religious affiliation
•Common history or location
•Intra-ethnic variations
Acculturation Process
• Acculturation is process by which an ethnic group moves into another new majority
society and begins to adopt the new society’s cultural values and habits
Biculturation: A new culture seen as a complement to the original culture of origin
Assimilation:
•people from one cultural group shed their ethnic identity and fully merge into the
majority culture
Ethnocentric
•person uses his or her own values to evaluate the behavior of others while regarding
own culture as superior to others
Acculturation of Food Habits
•Food habits are one of the last traditions to change during the process of acculturation
•Adopting new foods or dropping traditional fools affected by available ingredients, cost,
convenience, desirability
•Foods most closely associated with ethnic identity are the last to change
CULTURAL FOOD HABITS
•By looking at how different cultural groups categorize foods, we can perceive what is
valued
•How to study or determine meaning of foods
•Meal Patterns and Meal Cycles Influenced by Culture
•Developmental Perspective of Food Culture
How to study or determine meaning of foods
•Cultural "superfoods,“
•Models: Core and Complementary Foods, Flavor Principles, Meal Patterns & Meal
Cycles, Developmental perspective of food culture
Core & Complementary Foods Model
Flavor Principles
•Palatability
•Pleasurable endorphins
•Disguise unpleasant tastes
•Preservation
•Cultural identity: flavor principles or seasoning combinations (complementary foods)
Meal Patterns and Meal Cycles Influenced by Culture
•Analysis of daily, weekly, yearly use of food
•All cultures dine on at least one meal a day
•Patterns within the culture define "meal" versus "snack"
•Cultural practices influence
•Feasting or fasting as eating cycle components
Developmental Perspective of Food Culture
•Social dynamics
•Globalization leads to food consumerization
•Modernization and technological advances
•Urbanization of the populations
•Migration of populations
INDIVIDUAL FOOD HABITS
•Personal preferences
•Food Availability
•Edible or Inedible?
•Consumer Food Choice Model
Consumer Food Choice Model
Many interrelated factors
•Food selection primarily determined by taste
•Also cost, local food environment, convenience, self-expression, advertising, physical
and spiritual well-being, life stage, gender, state of health, variety
Consumer Food Choice Model
Study of Cultural Applications of Food
•Cultural competence affects all aspects of data collection, interviewing, and
expectations.
THE AMERICAN PARADOX
• New cultural metaphor for America: "Melting pot""Tossed Salad": separate
components each still present but in a delicious, complementary blend