Sociology of food

Early History and Culture

Since the beginning of mankind, food was important simply for the purpose of nourishment. As primates walked the Earth, they solely consumed food for a source of energy as they had to hunt and forage because food was not easily on hand. By early humans fending for themselves, they had figured out that they needed a high energy diet to keep going on a daily basis to survive.

These developments eventually lead to agriculture, which also goes into the labor for food and the economic part of the sociology of food. As the years went on, food become more and more of a way to bring cultures and people together. In many cultures, food is what brings people together. This carried for centuries. From the homo-sapiens hunting and gathering, to the colonists to the New World sharing a feast with the Native Americans (that carried on as a tradition named Thanksgiving), to the popularization of restaurants/eating out in the last several decades and the togetherness that comes with eating, shows how the communication and connectivity that comes from it. According to sociologists there are different groups of food that are divided up due to their purpose and meaning. There are cultural super foods, which are the stables for a culture. There are prestige foods, which often reflects economic status, body image food which is mainly consumed for the good of the body. Another would be sympathetic foods that are eaten for their desirable properties, like a superstitious property. Lastly, there is physiologic group, which are consumed for a specific category (like what a pregnant woman eats for a healthy pregnancy). These different categories help researchers and sociologists study culture in the perspective of food. It often shows how food grows, molds and changes with society. For example, if someone believes in homeopathy, that would fall under the sympathetic foods or physiologic foods. This is because they are consumed for their properties and beliefs of what it could do. Another example of one of these categories of foods would be caviar or oysters for the prestige foods, because they are often more expensive and those who consume it and purchase it do so to show their socioeconomic status, or SES.

Sociological Perspectives

Through the lens of a symbolic internationalist, there are many symbols that have to do with the sociology of food. Food, in many cultures, brings people together and connects them on multiple different levels. For example, the tradition of eating with the family around the table. It represents togetherness with one and another and communication. Food itself could symbolize something greater than what it is. In America, fast food could represent the busy family that needs a quick dinner to some. To others, however, it could display the “McDonaldization Theory” which centers around the idea of, specifically American, consumption. Another example of how the sociology of food can be symbolized would be making the food from scratch. This definitely goes along with the family. With other theories of sociology, conflict theory also pertains to the sociology of food. As mentioned before, food was first and foremost used for nourishment and means of survival. Due to this, that can fall under conflict theory. The roles of the hunter and gather meant that early humans had to fight and forage to survive. The conflict could also display the survival of the fittest, because there was a conflict for getting food and nourishment, the only the ones who were to best for prevail and provide nourishment for themselves and their families. This evolved to what it is today, with people having jobs to make a living for themselves, which goes into food and nourishment.

Psychology and Disorders

Eating disorders are also symbolic with the sociology of food. They represent how control (or lack thereof) someone can have over themselves about one of the things they need to live. Eating disorders do not limit themselves to anorexia. These disorders include bulimia and binge eating as well. Some people often use food a comfort, or even a reward. Or in other cases they see food as a negative thing to avoid, even though they need it for survival. The relationships with food that people carry is a very large subject that is very complex. From a sociological standpoint, media has a lot to do with this. Not only does this have to with the sociology of food, but it has to do with how the media represents society as a whole. Both men and women, but majority women, see the representation on the media, leading them to wanting to feel attractive. A lot of the time, this comes down the person’s relationship with food. When someone has a disorder like anorexia nervousa or bulimia, they have an intense fear of gaining weight, or just the “fatness” they feel they would get by consuming food. With bulimia, the fear is there, with the overcoming urge to binge. These disorders display the psychological relationships that people could have with food, and view it as a negative thing. They focus on the material look of themselves as opposed to needing food for energy and nourishment. This has a lot to do with overwhelming sexuality in the media. Girls, young women, and even men see how they “should” look according to the media, making them turn to desperate measures with these eating disorders.

Dieting

The fad of diets have been around for centuries, but the obsession with being thin and slim is only recently became a hot topic, within the last century. Dating back to even before the renaissance, it was considered beautiful to be “plump” and curvy. Society during that time in history believed that if a woman was larger and more plump, then she was being taken care of. It showed her wealth because she could afford to eat, as opposed to a peasant who did not have the luxury to readily available meals. The desired woman was not stick thin. The notable change began in the 1920’s era were the “boyish” figure became the most desired for a woman. Later, going into the 1960’s, models like Twiggy made headlines about how thin she was, and many women strived to be like her body type. This carried on to the 80’s where dieting (like the South Beach Diet and Weight Watchers) grew in popularity, along with the popularization of working out and work out videos. This was the start of mainstream dieting fads. Among these, others like the Atkins diet, Jenny Craig, and paleo began to take popularity. Today, as of early-mid 2010’s, other diets became mainstream. This included vegetarianism, dairy free, veganism, raw diets, and gluten free.There are many reasons why someone would chose a certain type of diet, from moral reasons, digestive issues, outside influence, or religious influence.

Obesity: When is it too much?

The obesity epidemic that has spread across America also is a great example on how food shapes society and they way people live, along with the evolution of the type of food Americans consume. Due to the busy manic lives that many Americans have, fast food and prepackaged foods with higher calories have gained popularity and have became mainstream in American consumption. There are many reasons as well as this that obesity has very visibly soared within the last few decades. Going along with the subject of eating disorders, obesity could have to do with the the feeling of lack of control that comes with over eating. There has been progress on combating America's obesity problem, with programs being put in place to help promote healthy eating and fitness. More and more restaurants are putting the amount of calories that are in the meals. Also, many food companies such as Coca-Cola are promoting making healthy choices with their drinks and products, also putting the calories on them and making the nutrition facts readily available.

References

Beardsworth, Alan, and Keil, Teresa. Sociology on the Menu : An Invitation to the Study of Food and Society (1). London, US: Routledge, 2002. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 21 November 2016.
Caplan, Pat, ed. Food, Health and Identity (1). London, US: Routledge, 2013. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 7 December 2016.
Halkier, Bente. Consumption Challenged : Food in Medialised Everyday Lives. Farnham, GB: Routledge, 2010. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 7 December 2016.
Institute of Medicine. Hunger and Obesity : Understanding a Food Insecurity Paradigm—Workshop Summary. Washington, US: National Academies Press, 2011. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 7 December 2016.
Lupton, Deborah. Food, the Body and the Self. London, GB: SAGE Publications Ltd, 1996. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 21 November 2016.
Marsden, Terry, and Cavalcanti, Josefa Salete Barbosa, eds. Research in Rural Sociology and Development : Labor Relations in Globalized Food. Bingley, GB: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2014. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 21 November 2016.
Ritzer, George. Explorations in the Sociology of Consumption : Fast Food, Credit Cards and Casinos. London, GB: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2001. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 21 November 2016.