Food and the role they play in today’s society

Food is such an important and integral part of our lives,

It has such widespread impact on the society as well as our well-being,

But why don’t we give it the thought it deserves?

Biological – food helps us survive

Social – food helps us connect

Social connotations of the types of food – Different foods can carry the same type of nutrients but have different social connotations (Murcott, 1982) – e.g. hard boiled eggs and steak are both rich sources of protein
Social connotations of the ritual of eating – Some anthropologists (such as claude levi-strausee, mary douglas, Edmond leah) propose that structured eating and drinking provides a medium whereby people may express their conviction that they are “civilized and human, rather than savage and animal”.

Cultural – food is symbolic

Ethnicity and the significance of food – e.g. the importance of dinner in the US vs in France
- American families eat together as a family much less often than those in Europe, and reflects the difference in family solidarity in the two cultures
Ethnicity and type of food
Foods in relations to different occasions e.g. Chinese dumplings and dragon boat festivals, turkeys and thanks giving