food is good to teach

8/7/2019 Food is Good to Teach

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/food-is-good-to-teach 1/18

Barbara Bonnekessen

Ne w Mexico Tech

••Food is Good to TeachA N E X PL O RA T IO N O F T H E C U L T U R A L M E A N IN G S

O F FO O D



A B S T R A C T

This article focuses on the teaching of culture through the lens of food . It discusses a

course o f food and culture , in which students considered various foodstuffs and

tradition s as means to explor e various cultural areas, including subsistence and '"'" '•Culture

eco nom ic issues, gend er and racial stra tifica tion , ethnic and nationalist iden tities, and &

m ore . Dr aw ing on the results of an in-class survey and class discussions, the artic le Society

highlights a wide range of ideas and beliefs as well as areas of emerging resistance to

cultural diversity which became highly visible to the students because the topic of

" f o o d " seemed innocent and safe.

Keywords : cultu re, teaching, diversity, food , resistance

Introduction

Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes food as

one of the basic needs and rights of every human being whose government

has signed and ratified the Declaration. But as with any of the articles, the

realization of this right is not a given, but depends on a country's cultural

ideas about eligibility and entitlement. What is important in regard to food

is not the human right or even the biological need; cultures create ideas,

rituals and rules around food that specify quite clearly what is good to eat by

whom, how people may "reasonably" be denied access, and how to reward or

punish those who cultivate, prepare and serve food. In short, food becomes

a lens through which we may explore the stratified realities of a society, its

ideas about worth, about class, sex/gender, race, religion, and even

nationality and humanity.

Interest in food has exploded in many areas; food-related research has

carved out a solid niche in cultural anthropology; medical and nutritional

guidelines to healthy eating are easily accessible and frequently discussed;

cookbooks are taking over even more bookstore space; and a whole television

channel is dedicated to foods and their preparations. The preceding

sentence indicates the problem: even a cursory glance at the food-related

research in cultural anthropology shows an intensive interest in the

historical, social, economic, political, religious—in short, cultural meanings

established and enforced in the production, transportation and consumption

of foods. For the reader of medical and nutritional information, the focus ison self-improvement and/or maintenance, sometimes extended to the



only as they appear on the kitchen counter. When I began to design a lower-

level undergraduate course on food and culture, I intended to situate the

course firmly in the anthropological meaning, but had the suspicion that my

students wanted to explore the epicurean hedonism so frequently privileged

"'• '3 •• ""• ̂ in con sum er-o rien ted food dis cus sion s.JIIIIC 10

Teaching about food outside of health and nutrition curricula hasincreased manifold over the past years and most teaching now oecurs within

the context of sociology and anthropology (Gargill 2005). While historically

each ethnography included a ehapter about a people 's subsistence

techniques and major staples, the focus now is frequently on globalization,

ethnic and racial construction, ideas of gendering and of class, nationality

and immigration, and worker's rights and animal suffering (see, for example,

Go unih an and Van Esterik 20 07; Wilk 200 6). In my course , 1 wan ted to

cover all these topics, but I was interested to know the level of my students'

awareness of the cultural context of food before we began the class.

Immediately after welcoming them to the semester, I asked the twenty-six

students to fill out a questionnaire that asked about their families' and their

own dealings with food (including its origin, nutrition, preparation and

serving), and the knowledge (or stereotypes) they might have about food

taboos related to sex, ethnicity, and religion. It is very important to note that

my students cannot major in a social science; although loeated in the very

culturally diverse South West (New Mexico), we are a science, teehnology,

engineering and mathematics university where I am the only culturalanthropologist. Students are required to take a few social science courses,

but most have no background in any social science field.

Before I describe the questionnaire and discuss the results, a brief

description of the course materials will provide some context. The class

began with the origins and historical migrations of today's staple foods,

diseussing not only domestication, but also food exchange systems and

eolonial appropriations. Food items, such as the potato, became a lens

through which we eould see not just nutritional information, but also

geopolitical history. The largest part of the course was dedicated to an

exploration of various meanings of foods to members of identified population

groups; we asked how food eould mark gender, class, "race" and ethnicity, as

well as religion. Gourse materials included research publications, ranging

from paleontology to sociological examinations of body image, while

statistical information c am e from the De pa rtm en t of Ag riculture, the World

Health Organization, and Food and Agriculture Organization. Videos were

chosen to reflect cultural uses of food and, frequently, abuses of food

produeers (e.g. we watched the original "Harvest of Shame" news reportbefore discussing contemporary migrant farm workers).



variations. Food is an excellent lens through which we can appreciate the

universal need for nourishment that finds a myriad of diverse expressions in

food's cultural messag es and u ses. However, hum an cultural diversity is a

sociopolitical minefield where some differences are exaggerated (e.g. sex and

"race "), wh ile others are greeted with hostile disdain (e.g. sexuality, class and ^ ''"°^'" , , Culuire

migran t e thn ic i ty ) . Cons t ruc t ions of the "other" frequently u se images of &

" inhuman" hab i t s , a n d food c a n play a central role in such discr iminat ion. A s Society

the c lass progressed, m y s t u d e n t s had to face t h e difference hetween a

t o l e r a n t a p p r e c i a t i o n of different foodways ( a n d c u l t u r e s ) a nd a n

e t h n o c e n t r i c c o n d e m n a t i o n of different foodways ( a n d c u l t u r e s ) . M o s t of

t he d i scuss ions desc r i bed in the r e m a i n d e r of this art icle i l luminate t h e

struggle over this difference.

T h e qu e s t i o n n a i r e I admini s t e red began wi th demographic ques t ions ,

a sked t h e r e sp o n d e n t s to remember thei r famil ies ' food habi ts a nd t o r e c o u n tthe i r o w n re la t ionship wi th food preparat ion, moved into quest ions

c o n c e r n i n g t h e symbol ic uses of foods, a n d ended wi th ques t ions ahout

h u n g e r . I n t e r sp e r se d w e r e so m e o p e n -e n d e d qu e s t i o n s a sk i n g for

defini t ions. Al though some interest ing t idbi ts c a n been drawn from t h e data

through a stat ist ical analysis, t h e vast majority of r e sp o n se s did not elicit a n y

meaningful corre la t ions to, for example , demographic da ta . There fore , t h e

major interpre ta t ion of the data w a s done through text analysis , compared

with in-c lass discus sions. N on e of the resul ts c a n b e general ized; m y class

speaks only fo r itself. Below, 1 will briefly in tro du ce t h e bas ic demographic

composi t ion of the class , a n d will then discuss several themes that emerged

as important (ei ther posit ively or negatively) in bo t h t h e qu e s t i o n n a i r e s a n d

the matching c lass session.

O f t h e twenty-six s tudents , t e n were female a n d sixteen male; with tw o

except ions , t h e re spondent s ind ica ted sex to gender agreement ( o n e male

and o n e female identified as undifferent ia ted; o n e female d id no t r e sp o n d to

the gender quest ion) . F i f teen ident i f ied as E u r o p e a n -A m e r i c a n , six as

mult iple e thnic i t ies (all European-Amer ican p lus e i the r H ispan ic , Na t iveAmer ican , As ian Amer ican , or M i d d l e -E a s t e r n A m e r i c a n ) , tw o each as

Ea t ino a n d in ternat ional , a nd on e a s Asian-Amer ican . T h e average age \vas

2 3 . 5 , ranging from 18 to 46 . Seven grew up in an urban envi ronment , t h ree

in ei ther a n "inner ci ty" or an other impoverished neighborhood, four in

s u b u r b s , a n d nine in rura l areas. Three moved during thei r chi ldhood. Only

one student ident i f ied h is original class as upper class; however, h e also

a n sw e r e d to have grown up in an "inner c i ty" / impoverished ne ighb orhood

and might have misunderstood t h e qu e s t i o n s , a n i nhe ren t p rob lem wi th

quest ionnaires . Fourteen respondents l i s ted thei r famil ies as middle c lass ,

four as working c lass , a nd tw o a s lower class/poverty. Four students' families



vol. 13 :: no . 1jtttte 10

them, tvvetity-three grew food lor their own consumption and seventeen

hu nte d For their own con sum ptio n, while eleven had h un ted for sport. Only

four and six respectively grew food or raised animals for sale.

Food for Fami l ies

One of the first questions on the questionnaire asked the students to name

and describe a special meal in their families. iVlany specified at least one

dish, ranging from turkey for Thanksgiving and chocolate cake for birthdays

to dishes with an assumed immigrant past (borscht and pirogi) for family get-

togethers or Sunday breakfast. A question about h om e food shopping,

preparation, serving and clean-up elicited an expected majority of "mother"

responses; while the same question for the respondents ' current household

showed that most either did all the food-related work themselves, whilesome now do this with a partner/spouse, or live off the school's dining hall.

Most respondents credited their mothers with teaching them to cook, mostly

around the age of ten, still cook regularly today, and many enjoy cooking.

When I began the class session focused on food and gender with a

discussion of women's centrality in providing food for their families (see, for

exatnple, Esterik 1999; Fauve-Chamoux 2000), my students happily agreed

with that focus. Women as mothers are expected to feed all family members,

visitors and the occasional neighbor (Williams 2006) and, for just a few

minutes, my students generously attributed the ti t le "provider' to women

who mother (although public breastfeeding did elicit some negative remarks

predominantly by male students; see also Esterik 2008; Fauve-Chamoux

2000). Briefly sidetracking the discussion to the fact that many women also

produced the food they cook and serve, either through growing or hunting

(Beoku-Betts 1995), wrinkled a few brows, but otherwise passed almost

unnoticed.

Equally successful were any video-clips that showed women cooking and

ser\'ing foods to their families. While rnale participation was visible, thestudents managed to ignore that and focused on women, particularly older

women. As my students happily agreed that women and food go together, I

did have to ask the pesky question why, if women should be so central to

food, current American culture makes it so conflict-laden for women to eat

and I began to show images of cadaverous fashion mo dels.

Food for G e n d e r



c l a imed men a t e mea t (mos t l y s t eak) and t h i r t een t ha t women a t e s a l ads

( the othe r two of fered "f rui ty dr ink s" an d "s t rawberry , fon du e, eh oe ola te

c a k e " ) . S o m e r e s p o n d e n t s i n d i c a t e d t h e i r a w a r e n e s s o f r e p e a t i n g a

s t e r eo type (qu es t i on and quo t a t i on m arks , " s t e r eo type ! " wr i t t en i n marg ins ) ,

bu t t he i r awarenes s o f t he s t e r eo type was ce r t a in ly we l l i nd i ca t ed . T he '"°°''-

co nv erse qu es t ion ( foods avoided by me n or w om en ) was only an sw ere d by &•

elev en re sp on de nt s and only two of the se revers ed tb e ex pec ted s ter eo typ e, Socieiy

whi le a to ta l of f ive did say tbat men avoid e i tber sa lads or vegetables and

two pos tu l a t ed a f ema le ave r s ion to me a t . O n e r e sp on de n t d id po in t ou t t b a t

b o t b m e n a n d w o m e n s b o u l d a vo id e a ti n g " h u m a n . " " R e al M e n E a t M e a t "

see m s a s t rong er co m m an d tba n any o tbe r . And r ea l m en ea t .

T be cen t r a l i t y of m ea t to Am er i can ma scu l i n i t y is we l l do cu m en ted w i tb

resp ec t t o gen de r (e .g . An ab i t a and M ix 20 06 ; He inz 199 8 ; Wi l l a rd 2 00 2)

and e tbn i c i t y (C ur r a r i no 2007) . Mos t o f my s tuden t s were we l l aware o f t b i s

pb en om en on and han d l ed a c r i ti ca l d i s cus s ion o f it qu i t e we l l. A f ew ma les ,

bowever , s eemed t o be t oo i nves t ed i n "mea t = man" t o even cons ide r t be

poss ib i l i t y t ha t t be consumpt ion o f mea t was ne i t be r a un ive r sa l bab i t no r

tbe c iv i l i z i ng fo rce t ba t t be "Man tbe Hunte r " i deo logy bas pos tu l a t ed

( D a b l b e r g 1 9 8 1 ; S l o e u m 1 9 7 5 ) . M e a t w a s p e r s o n a l — a s w a s w e i g b t .

W bi l e obes i ty am on g Am er i ca ns i s a f r equen t l y d i scus sed t op i c an d

weigb t - l os s adv i ce and a s s i s t ance i s r ead i l y ava i l ab l e , none o f my s tuden t s

cou ld answ er t be que s t i on ' ' wben is it eno ug b?" O ur d i scus s io n o f gen der ed

bodies e l ic i ted a s t rong preference for b ig , but not too big , men and s lenderw o m e n . T b e m a l e s t u d e n t s w e r e b a p p y — b a v i n g c u l t u r a l p e r m i s s i o n t o e a t

more t ban o tbe r s s eems pos i t i ve , un l e s s one r ea l i zes t be p res su re on young

m e n w i t b s e d e n t a r y o c c u p a t i o n s t o m u s c l e - u p ( H a t o u m a n d B e l l e 2 0 0 4 ;

P a r a se c o li 2 0 0 8 ) . T b e f em a l e s t u d e n t s w e r e r e si g n e d to t b i n n e s s - p r e s s u r e

unt i l tbey rea l ized tbat too tb in i s a rare ly ment ioned, ye t l e tbal outcome of

t b e i n c e s s a n t w e i g b t- l o s s d e m a n d . A n d a ll w e r e s t u n n e d w b e n I p o i n t e d o u t

tba t my body - im age , as a resul t o i: m idd le E ur op ea n socia l iza t ion, a l lows For

a f ema le b eau ty image t ba t i s "cu rvace ous , " "p l easan t l y p lu m p, " or even

' ' w o m a n l y " w b e r e e s p e c i a l l y w b i t e m i d d l e - c l a s s A m e r i c a n w o m e n s e e a n d

bear "fat ."

T o my su rp r i s e , t be s t ronges t r e s i s t ance came no t t o t be c r i t i que o f

f e m i n i n e s t a r v a t io n , b u t t o t b e d o c u m e n t a t i o n t b a t w e i g b t - b a s e d

d i sc r im ina t i on i s, i nde ed , ba rmfu l t o t be v i c t im . D i s cuss ing w orkp l ace

d i sc r im ina t i on ag a ins t pe rce ived ove rwe igb t adu l t s (R oeb l i ng e t al. 2 0 0 7 )

and more gene ra l s capegoa t i ng ( Ju l i e r 2008) , i t became obv ious t ba t on ly

very few s tudents were able to res i s t tbe lure of socie ta l permiss iveness to

i l l -ma nne red r em ark s . T b e c l a im tba t "ave rage" - s ized peop l e sbou ld be

al lowed to f ree ly cr i t i c ize overweigbt individuals was coucbed in terms of



smokescreen to justify harassment, most students began to admit that

variations in human body weight were indeed not legitimate grounds for

discrimination. A couple of female students were not convinced, adhering to

the mandated low-weight feminine ideal themselves—one class lecture

vol. 13 :: no. 2 could make only a small dent into a lifetime of body image socialization.jiiiie 10 > o

Food for Ethnicity/Race and Religion

Teaching about the relationship of food to race and ethnicity as well as

religion proved to be the two most contentious sections of this course. In

both categories, stereotypes and ignorance were freely confessed and

commit ted , and class discussions occasionally got rather heated. On the

quest ionnaire , I asked the respondents to list food that should be consumed

to show that one is a "typical" member of an American ethnic and racialgroup and to list the foods that were to be avoided for such identification,

followed by the parallel question regarding the diet of a "devout" follower of

the major religions.

Many responses on the initial questionnaire indicated that the s tudents

were quite aware of the potential for stereotyping inherent in such a listing.

Six European-American respondents (two female, four male) did not answer

an y of the questions relating to permit ted or tabooed ethnic and religious

foods (although one of them offered "leftovers" as a food for devout

Buddhists; this may indicated a confusion with Hindus where leftovers were

traditionally to be avoided; Appadurai 2008). Three respondents offered only

one or two answers out of the twenty-six questions in this section: a

Hispanic male offered only "beans and chili" as a Hispanic food; a male of

European-American, Hispanic and Native Am erican descen t suggested

"beans and rice" for Hispanics and the avoidance of "pig and shellfish" for

Jewish diners; and an Asian-American female suggested the avoidance of

"pigs" for Musl ims. The rest ofthe respondents were more voluble, although

eight of the remaining seventeen had mueh more to say about what a personof a certain group should eat then what they should avoid.

The resulting lists were a hodgepodge of stereotypes and, occasionally,

very strange prescriptions. For a "true European-American" diet , the

suggestions ranged from potatoes, really sour/vinegar)' foods, tofu, raw

herring, spaghetti, goulash, corned beef, pasta primavera, fish and cottage

cheese, milk, crème brûlée, spätzle, hamburgers, pita bread with Greek

salad, to steak, and back to meat and potatoes, while the forbidden foods

included swordfish, McDonald's, curry, beef, fried chicken and Asian Indianfood. It is interesting to note that the latter group was offered solely by



stereotyping of "white" food, the above list is ver)' likely representative of

personal prefer ences , ra ther than an expression of mand atory "racial" or

ethnic symbolism.

T he twelve resp on den ts who suggested foods for African-A mericans did

so often with an apology; the foods listed were "food created during slavery," '""°'''

chic ken , fried chick en (eight time s), w aterm elon (three time s), "colored &

greens " (a seemingly fre quen t misspelling of collard green s), "koolaid," grape ""'' -drink, grits, chitterlings and greens, gumbo and meat loaf. Foods to be

avoided were instant grits, anything high in sodium, tofu, avocado, lobster,

Szechvvan beef and tortillas. None of the respondents had identified as

African-American; of the eight references to "fried chicken," four came from

white males, one from a Hispanic male, and the other three from women of

multiple ancestries.

I was prep ared for the list of "proper" Hisp anic/L atino foods (tacos (2),

burritos (2), chalupa, posóle (2), tamales (3), menudo (2), beans (5) andrefried beans, chili (2), rice, carne adovada, enchiladas, tortillas (2), and

fajitas), but was surprised that one should avoid Taco Bell, burgers, seafood,

onions, steamed rice and fresh vegetables, and spaghetti . As my students

assured me later in the semester that chili was an absolute integral part of

New Mexiean foods, the small amount of chili here, as well as its absence

from th e diets of Eu rop ean and Native Am ericans m ust be striking.

Asian-Americans were said to prefer rice (8), fried rice and rice noodles,

cabbage, chicken chow mein, egg rolls, pad Thai, dog, cat, orange chicken,sushi (2), fresh stir-fried vegetables, seaweed. General Tso's, noodles, and to

avoid Panda Express, pizza, dairy ("they lack an enzyme"), cow, hamburger,

fried frog legs, and MeDonald's.

Th e preferred diet for Native Am ericans was listed as venison, pe m m ican,

salmon, elk, corn stalk tamales, ashes, corn (2), buffalo, wildebeest. Navajo

taeo, wild game, fried bread (2), goat and deer, while avoiding rice, Twinkies

and pizza. Of tbe respondents, three had identified as including a Native

American ancestry; one did not answer this question, one contributed the

"corn stalk tamales," and the third "corn, buffalo and wildebeest"—it is

especially the last animal, of indubitably African origin, which makes me

assume that the claimed Native American ancestry' does not extend to

me m bersh ip in a curren t Native Am erican comm unity.

The only respondent identified as Middle-Eastern-American did not

respond to this question; all others deeided that proper food should include

exotic rice, goat, hummus (2), curry (2), corn, ginger chicken with wild rice,

pita (2), couscous, and shish kebab. Adversely, salad, salmon, fried pork loin,

and an ything eate n with one's left h and were to be avoided. A wh ite m alementioned here that "it depends on country," a remark he had already



In an interesting puzzle, in a class where so many did not have any

empirical knowledge of particular ethnic foods apart from named cuisines

(e.g. Chin ese food), a video abo ut eth nic foods was the biggest suc cess .

"Food & Cu ltur e," the second part of the PBS series "The M ean ing of Food "

vol. 13 :: no.,2 (Ca rgiu lo 200 5) pro bably was the closest we ever cam e to the o riginaljutttt 10

expectations of the students. Flearing about Gullah and rice, Makahwhaling, and Czech kolaches offered the class that kaleidoscope of edible

variety that makes food traditions appealing and safe.

The class discussions offered some interesting resistance; while most

students were willing to define foods as typical for assumed ethnic identities,

the corollary' that groups could be denigrated because they were associated

with certain foods was more difficult to comprehend. In the

1 abov em ention ed video, the Cu llah exam ple m ade reference to

discrimination based on the charge of "rice eaters." It may have been the

particular staple or maybe discomfort at being reminded that many people

use food habits as an accusation of lesser humanity, but most students felt

that su ch d iscrimin ation cou ld not occur. I did point out tha t "we" are

frequently eager to learn about the strange foodstuffs consumed by the

"other" (Heldk e 20 08 ), most no tably insects. Yet althoug h on e of my

stu de nts introd uced the topic outs ide of class, 1 refused to satisfy this

'. potentially racist side of food exploration by featuring those staples or hunger

foods that would eng end er expressions of disgust. I did me ntion insect fare,

but did not delve as much into the topic as, for example, Hopkins (1999)does.

For the identified religious groups, the knowledge of allowed and tabooed

foods decreased even more. Most respondents were unsure about foods

required of devout Protestants (they suggested salads, fish, saltines, salads

with dressing, casserole (2), unleavened bread, fried chicken and potato

salad, corn, and one "anything") and forbidden to them ("a bowl of mud,"

lobster, veal and "people," in addition to "nothing" and "they eat anything!").

Catholics did not fare much better; allowed to eat "anything" and

"everything," there is also fish (2), bread, salad, fish wafers, lamb and "holy

communion, " with "non-meat during Eent" and a "same except for Eenl"

following a respondent's Protestant diet of fried chicken and potato salad.

Catholics were to avoid crabs, steak on Fridays, and "people," and two

respondents were sure that nothing was to be avoided for this group.

The respondents suggested that devout Jews are allowed gefilte fish,

bread (3), latkes (2), Hebrew National dogs, soup, lamb, vegetables, matzah

and hummus; six respondents did however realize the importance of kosher

foods, while one specified "nothing treth" (U"l"1 or treyf, Hebrew l^nsn

trëfcih). The same respondent specified foods to be avoided as "Treth: e.g.



bone, generalized to "anything not kosher" (3), and one thought that eating

was forbidden during Passover.

For Muslims, the prescribed diet ranged from "non-pork" and "anything

but pork" to rice, curry, lamb (2), meat, basmati rice, couscous and dates

with milk (this resp on den t hailed from M oroc co), to halal (rJ U -, halal, ''" '" '•„ ' Ciilliirc

halaal) foods (2 ) . Forbidden foods were pork (7 ) , octopus, beer , "anything &from a cow," avocado a n d beef, with general iza t ions of non-hala l (2) , "any Sociciy

foods forbidden by Koran [sic]", a n d , accord ing t o t he sa m e r e sp o n d e n t w h o

forbade Jews from eating during Passover, "anything during Ramadan."

W hi le Chr i s t i an , Jews a n d Musl ims evoked some (if somet imes wrong)

knowledge about their food regulations, most of my re spondent s were a t a

loss when if c a m e to a n sw e r t h e sa m e qu e s t i o n s for B u d d h i s t s a n d H i n d u s .

Buddhists were sa id to eat "leftovers" (already discussed above), vegan,

"chutes" (possibly "chutney") , r ice (6 ) , let tuce, fresh vegetables, fruit , a n d

were thought to avoid "anything that had a soul ," mea t (3 ) , hawks, ice-cream

sundaes , an imal s , a n d pork. Hindus were sa id to prefer "non-beef foods,"

"vegetarian (n o onions/garl ic)" curry (2 ) , rice (3) , and "cow urine, milk," a n d

were to avoid meat ( 3 ; o n e with onion a n d garlic added), veal , T-bone, beef

and pork.

The c lass discussion foeused o n religious food taboos, specifically as they

rela ted to food avoidance a n d fast ing. For th e vast majority of the class, this

was a very familiar topic. Many mentioned fast ing fo r L e n t or R a m a d a n as

something they e i ther pract iced themselves or were at least familiar with.The concept that re l igious authori t ies demanded such sacr i f ices f rom devout

followers w a s seen as a regular part of belonging to such a communi ty ,

wha tever t h e particular rel igion. O n e student , however , a self-described

fundamental is t Protestant , became very disrupt ive during t he two class

sessions that focused o n this topic. Unwill ing to a c c e p t t h e validity of o t h e r

re l igious t radi t ions, this s tudent responded to all m e n t i o n s of food taboos

and fast ing wi th audible sounds of derision a n d disgust . H e r breaking point

c a m e w h e n I showed a video clip about a cookbook p u t together from

rec ipes remembered by capt ives in Naz i concent ra t ion camps (Garg iu lo

2 0 0 5 ) , making t h e connect ion between re l igious persecut ion a n d survival

st ra tegies based on food. H e r subsequent remark tha t t h e persecu t ion w a s

just ified if misguided in its m e t h o d s wa s so hor rendous tha t w e were all

s t u n n e d . S h e left t h e classroom before anybody could respond a nd wa s very

careful in her remarks for the rest of the semester .

F o o d fo r C l a s s



jtttte 10

before tbe semester began. Despite tbis reality, tbe images one sees wben

turning on a television, driving along any suburban fast food "row," or

browsing tbrougb magazines in tbe supermarket are tbose of an over-

abundance of meals and an obesity epidemic. I bad expected a strong

vol. I:Î :: no. 2 privileging of tbis second set of images, but as I started to code tbe

qu estio nn aires , 1 was struek by tbe ove restimation of bung er and food

insecurity in tbe United States, in New Mexico, and in tbe world at large intbe first four questio nn aire s. 1 pulled tbe answ ers from all qu estion naire s

and realized tbat witb a few exceptions, my students overestimated bunger

percentages and numbers in tbe United States (11 percent vs tbeir 21.4

percent), in New Mexico (16.8 percent vs tbeir 31.1 percent), and in tbe

world (almo st 1 billion vs tbeir 2.96 billion) (statistics from Ce nsus .gov ).

We bad started tbe seeond class session witb a discussion of tbis surprise.

I adm itted to a researcber bias: 1 bad expected tbem to undere stim ate tbe

numbers and offered myself as a good example of faulty researcbassumptions. If you tbink you know sometbing, get tbe data—you migbt be

surprised. In tbe discussion, students gave different reasons for tbeir

answers: a couple bad no information at all, but bad been guessing, wbile

anotber worked in one of tbe poorest scbool districts and saw cbildren on

free luncb programs every day and assumed tbat tbis was "normal." Many

students bear about global poverty and bunger (tbe global estimates were

triple, wbile tbe otber two were just double) and rarely bear about well-off

folks in otber countries; tbey were certain tbat all people outside tbe United

States were poor and bungr)' . Many students knew tbat New Mexico is one

of tbe poorest states in tbe United States; tbe statistical mode was 20

percent (five answers), and tbe United States overestimate was due to tbree

answers of 50 percent, wbile tbe mode was 25 percent (eleven answers, but

ten answered 10 percent; wbicb is close to tbe actual percentage). Tbe

majority of tbe students, bowever, felt confused by tbe term "food insecurity"

(now tbe official US government designation); tbey were not sure bow tbis

related to "bunger," and, of course, I bad taken care not to predispose tbeir

answers by giving a definition.Our class discussions covered several topics rougbly united under "class."

We discussed bunger foods and tbeir induced scarcity by Western gourmets;

lands given over to casb-crop production and tbe subsequent lack of

subsistence food production; tbe derailment of buman food, specifically

grains, to feed animals for meat production, and cars for transportation

(etbanol fuel); and we never lost sigbt of tbe workers wbo produce foods for

tbe global and national table wbile barely surviving tbemselves. Of all tbe

difficult topics of tbe semester, tbis was tbe one tbat garnered tbe leastresistance. Once I translated tbe meaning of sucb politicized terms as "food



income and food. This insight was strongest when, after watching "Harvest

of Shame," we discussed the current si tuation of food-producing migrant

workers, their l i \dng conditions, and the public policies that disempower

them. There was, of course, some resistance; after watching an online video

clip of desperately poor people living on and off a garbage dump, one of my ''°°'''

students, from a subsistence farming community, protested that "these &

peo ple" should just grow som e food, jus t as her family had don e. It stun ne d .ociuty

her to be remind ed that not al! people, especially in urban areas, have acce ss

to arable land.

Our most memorable posit ive discussion, al though located in the section

on "forbidden bodies," did create an unexpeeted class consciousness. We

began with a clip from "The Meaning of Food" (Gargiulo 2005), which

featured a man whose career included cooking the last meal for death-row

inmates, a topic I chose because of the usual invisibility of such a profession.

My students were bewildered; after we saw the clip and I mentioned some

states ' rules about the cost of last meals, most students pointed out that (a)

nobody should skimp on the cost of somebody else's last meal, and (b) any

health justifications for food limitations (or even smoking prohibitions) were

rather pointless in light of the prisoners' fate.

Food for Thought

For my students, at the beginning of the semester, food was good to eat.

Many had enrolled in the class because of a specific gourmand interest and

were surprised to find that food was so much more than just what was on

their plate. They encountered food as an environmental i tem in discussions

about domestications and uses of pesticides; food as colonial goods, driving

and feeding colonialism and globalization for over 500 years; they met

workers in the nineteenth-century coffee plantations and in today's tomato

fields and slaughterhouses; and they had to come to grips with the use of

food to mark religion, ethnicity and gender.

Sometimes they left class swearing they would never eat again; at other

times, they were ready to raid whatever pantry was accessible. But reactions

often did not evolve around food per se, but around the meanings of food.

For some students, the class materials and diseussions were painful. As

already discussed, one student's religious narcissism did not permit her to

listen to a discussion of the dietary prescriptions of her co-religionists and

other religions; the same student, who had proudly pointed out that visible

collarbones were a mark of beauty for women, frequently made disparagingremarks about overweight individuals, something that became a problem



JtltlC 10

information showing that the human species had never been carnivorous,

but that plant foods (especially as procured by women) were a normal and

often major part of the hominid and human diet. During a discussion on the

variations of vegetarianism, the same student was at pains to show that the

vol. 13 :: no. 2 well-documented suffering of animals bred for industrial slaughter was to be

disregarded as a measure of masculine pride.

The resistance to food as a cultural marker was not surprising to me, but

it affected many students whose interest in food had been self-centered

before the course. To take a seemingly innocuous item, such as dinner, and

to connect it not only to environmental concerns, but to the economy,

politics, social stratification, history and such ideological areas as religion

and art formed an introduction to American (and other) culture(s). Students

may have dismissed the "and culture" part of the class title in the beginning

of the semester, but by the semester 's end, that part had achieved

prominence .Food is, indeed, good to teach. Using such an innocent point of entry, the

cultural anthropologist can lead a class through all areas of any society's

culture, exploring economic and political inequalities as well as ideological

eonstructs of race, gender, and even "normal" body forms. Food becomes a

historical process and an international relations marker. But for the educator

who teaches about good nutrition and healthy living, the connection

between food and culture is equally important. Foods that are important to

group and individual identity, no matter howdamaging they may be over the

long run, cannot just be removed from the table. Great care must be taken

not to impugn a group's self-image by criticizing their food traditions, and no

dietary changes can be imposed by outsiders. Nutritionists may do well to

work with anthropologists to become conversant with the real meanings of

any food item, meanings that can rarely be expressed in calories and

carbohydrates, but more often by "this is what we eat."

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to her students who were such intrigued and

intriguing participants in her class.

References

ANAHITA , S. and Mi.x, T. L. 2 006 . Retrofitt ing Frontier Masculinity for Alaska's War Against

Wolves. Cender Society 2 0 ( 3 ) : 3 3 2 - 5 3 .

APPADURAI , A. 2 0 0 8 . How to M ake a National Cuisine: Cookbooks in Contemporary India.



Presen'í i t ion of Cultural Ident i ty among the Gul lah. Cender and Society 9( 5 ) : 535- 55 .

C A R G I L L , K. 2003. Food Studies in the C ur r i c u l um : A Model for Interdiseiplinary Pedagogy.

Food, Culture and Society 8(1): 116-23.

C o u N i H A N , C. M. and V A N E S T E R I K , P. (eds) 2 0 0 7 . Food and Culttire: A Reader (2nd edn).

New York: Routledge.CuRRARiNO, R. 2007 . "Meat vs. Rice": The Ideal of Manly Lahor and Anti-Chinese Hysteria

in Nineteenth-cen tur) 'Ameriea. M e« í í ií í /iVlœci iimities 9 (4): 47 6-9 0. „ .

D A H L B E R G , F. (ed.) 1981. Wom an the Catherer. NewHaven, CT: Yale University Press. ^

EsTERiK, P. V. 1999. Right to Food; Right to Feed; Right to Be Fed. The Intersection of SocietyWomens Rights and the Right to Food. Agrictdture and Htiman Values 16: 225—32.EST ERI K , P. V. 2008 . The Polities of Breastfeeding: An Advocacy Upda te. In C. Counihan and

P. V. Este rik (eds) Food and Culture: A Reader (2nd ed n). Ne w York: Routledge, pp. 4 6 7 - 8 1 .F A U V E - C H A M O U X , A . 2000 . Breast Mi lk and Art if ic ial Infant Feeding. In K. F. Kiple and K.

C. Órnelas (eds) The Cambridge World Histor)' of Food (Vol. 1). New York: CamhridgeUniversity Press, pp.626-34 .

G A R G I U L O , M . 2005. TheMeaning of Food. Pie in the Sky Productions, PBS Home Video.H A T O U M , I. J. and B E L L E , D . 2004. Mags and Ahs: Media Consumpt ion and Bodily

Concerns in M e n . Sex Roles 5 1 (7/8): 397-407.H E I N Z , B. 1998. Gett ing Down to the Meat : The Symholie Construction of Meat

Consumpt ion. Communicat ion Studies 41(1): 86—99.

H E L D K E , L. 2008. Lets Gook Thai: Recipes for Golonial ism. In G. Gounihan and P. V.Esterik (eds). Food and Culture: A Reader (2nd edn). New York: Routledge, pp. 327—41.

H O P K I N S , J. 1999. Strange Foods: Bush Meat, Bats and Butterflies. Singapore: Periplus.J U L I E R , A. 2008. The Polit ical Economy of Ohesity: The Fat Pay Al l. In G. Gounihan and P.

V. Esterik (eds). Food and Culture: A Reader (2nd edn). New York: Routledge, pp. 481-99.P A R A S E C O L I , F. 2008. Feeding Hard Bodies: Food and Masculinit ies in Men's Fitness

Magazines. In G. Gounihan and P. V. Esterik (eds). Food and Culture: A Reader (2nd edn).New York: Routledge, pp. 187-201.

RoEHLiNG, M. V., RoEHLiNG, P. V. and PiCHLER, S. 2007. The Relationship hetween BodyWeight and Perceived Weight-Related Employment Discrimination: The Role of Sex and

Race, journal of Vocational Behavior 71: 300—18.

S L O C U M , S. 1975. Woman the Gatherer: Male Bias in Anthropology In R. R. Reiter (ed.)

Toward an Anthropology of Women. New York: M onth ly R eview Press, pp. 3 6 - 5 0 .W i L K , R. (ed.) 2 0 0 6 . Fast Food/Slow Food: The Cultural Economy of the Clobal Food System.

Lanham, MD:Al taMira Press .W iLLARD, B. E. 2002. The American Story of Meat: Discursive Inf luences on Gultural Eating

Pra ctices. JouTOíí/ of Popular Culture 36(1): 105—18.W I L L I A M S , B. 2006. Why Migrant Women Feed Their Hushands Tamales: Foodways as a

Basis for a Revisionist View of Tejano Family Life. In W. A. Havi land, R. J. Gordon and L.

A. Vivanco (eds) Talking About People: Readings in Contem porar)' Cultural Anthropology.

Boston: M c G r a w - H i l l , pp. 150-57.

A ppendix: Questionn aire

Age:

Se.x (check most appropriate):femalemaleinterse.xtrans (f to m or m to f)

Gender (check most dominant):femininemasculineundifferentiated



Wlii te/European-American

Black/African American

Hispanic/Latino/a

Native American

Asian-American/Pacific Islander

Middle-Eas tern-Americanvol. 13 :: no . 2

Non-US (please add countrj 'of origin + ethnic/racial group if applicable);

Main residential area when growing up:urban (established neigbborhood or urban renewal area)

inner city, impove risbed neigbbo rbood , public housing

etbnic enclave

suburban

Class membersbip of family wbiie growing up:

upper class (employment- independent)

middle class (professional)

working class (vocational, farming)

lower class/poverty (unskilled or under-employed)

Did (or does) your lamily bave a special dish or meal tbat is prepared on special occasions?

Name tbe main ingredients of the disb(es), wbo prepares it, and for wbicb occasion it is

prepared.

In your family, who did most of the:

meal planning

grocery shopping

food preparation

food serving

clean-up

In your current bousebold, wbo does most of tbe:

meal planning

grocer) ' sbopping

food preparation

food serving

clean-up

Dietary preference:

omnivore with meat/fish preference

omnivore with vegetable preference

vegetarian

vegan

Lengtb:

lifelong

witbin past ten years

witbin past five years

witbin past year

If your dietary preference cbanged over tbe past ten years, wbat was tbe major reason for tbe

change?

medical

nutritional

income

ethics

other



E.xpiain:

Have you ever:

grown food lor own consumption

grown food for sale to others

hunted/fished for own consumption

hunt ed/fish ed lor sport „, I /(.. I V . Cullurc

raised animals/lisn ror consum ption „

raised anim als/fish for sale to oth ers Socieiv

If you buy prepared foods:

f^ow often do you read nutritional labels?

How often do you e.xplore the origin of the food you consume (growing and

canning/freezing/packaging)?

How often do you consider the workers who grow, harvest, package, and transport the food

to your store?

Do you cook?

I know how to Follow instruc tions to heat up pre-coo ked foods

I can cook one dish without consulting a recipe

1 can cook quit e well if I have detailed reeipesI can grab any ten ingred ients from th e eupbo ard and fridge and pre pare an excellent meal

from seratcb

Cook? Does ordering pizza count as cooking?

If you cook:

Who taught you the basics? (relationship, not name)

How old were you wben you began to prepare food?

Do you eook for others? How often per day/per week?

If you cook for others, do you cook because:

you like to?

it is e.xpected of you?there would be no food otherwise?

Do you diet?

Current ly

Once last year

Cons tant ly

Why?

How?

You are tr)'ing to impress a person important to you in a restaurant.

Which foods to you order?

Which foods do you avoid?

What do you want your choice to say about you?

Name a food tbat indieates:

upper elass

middle elass

working class

lower class/poverty

Name a food that a person would eat to show that they are:

a real man

a real woman

a true European American



a true Asian American

a true Native American

a true ^'lidclle Eastern American

a devout Protestant Chris tian

a devout Catholic

a devout Jew

a devout Muslim

a devout Buddiust

a devout H indu

For the same groups, which foods should not be consumed:

a real man

a real woman

a true European American

a true African American

a true i-iispanic/Latino/a

a true Asian American

a true Native American

a true Middle Eastern American

a devout Protestant Chris tian

a devout Catholica devout Jew

a devout Muslim

a devout Buddhist

a devout Hindu

Define:

food

diet

health food

junk lood

overweight

underweighthunger

food insecurity

In your estimate, how many households in the US do not have enough food?

none to less than 1 percent

under to ahout 10 percent

ahout 25 percent

ahout 50 percent

ahout 75 percent

more than 80 pereent

What is the percentage of food-insecure households in New Mexico?

There are currently more than 6.5 hillion people on this globe. How many suffer from hunger?less than 1 billion

1 billion

2 billion

3 billion

4 billion

5 billion

>6 billion

Unless ill, elderly, or otherwise incapacitated, do/will you ever expect any other person to

prepare and serve food to you in your home on a daily basis? Why?

Using as mueh space as you need, explain how food is important to you:



Copyright of Food, Culture & Society is the property of Oxford International Publishers Ltd, trading as Berg

Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the

copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for

individual use.

food is good to teach

Documents