a food post
This interesting article that appeared in The New York Times today got me to thinking about the cultural importance of food and the ways in which we eat it. Further it made me think about the way in which we create stigmas and taboos in regards to the consumption of food. The NYT article deals with MSG (monosodium glutamate) which for years people, especially in the USA, have believed is quite bad for you even though it is present in a number of commonly consumed food products. I also find myself thinking about saturated fats and hydrogenated vegetable oils and the new considerations that both food producers and the consuming public are making in regards to the two.
It seems quite obvious that we all need to eat. We are organic living things that do not possess our own solar energy receptors (such as the chlorophyll used by plants for photosynthesis) and so must come to a source of energy by the consumption of material that our bodies can then metabolize and put to work. For humans though food is a lot more than just a means of energy and nutrients, it is very much tied into the nature and identification of culture. Just consider the definition of various cuisines, we literally break food up along national, ethnic, and cultural boundaries — Italian, Mexican, Thai, etc, etc. Food, that which is eaten, the way it is prepared, the dominant flavors, and what is or isn’t allowed, is just as important a cultural construct as clothing and language and the arts.
In the United States, a nation that has become increasingly aware of concerns over obesity and its negative health effects, consciousness of health consumption has become a big market. It is impossible to go into a supermarket nowadays without seeing some product that has a label of low fat, fat free, organic, or something else of the like. The way in which our food is marketed and labeled is just as much a comment on our current culture as is the kinds of foods we are choosing to eat.
I find the whole thing rather fascinating really. I had a roommate in college who almost always insisted on buying name brand products at the supermarket instead of generic store brand. This baffled me and still does because I cannot often tell much of a difference between name brand and generic besides the fact that one is quite a bit cheaper. I think a part of it is just our general consumerist society while another part is a psychological perception of name and quality. All around I would have to say it is great.
Food is just as much a part of popular culture as say music and movies and the coolest new TV shows. Our modes of eating and choices of consumption follow along with other trends that define the social norms of any given generation. I remember my dad telling me once how when he was growing up a simple dairy product like yogurt really had very little popularity. This now seems absurd to me as it seems like every time I watch television I see a commercial for Yoplait or some other yogurt brand. I could say the same for salsa, or sushi, or any number of other foods that were once almost completely unheard of here in the States and now are everywhere in our daily lives.
I think we might all take it a little bit for granted the role of food. Sure we know it is important and probably most of us really enjoy having something good to eat, but how often do we really sit back and think about the greater value in which food plays in our very definitions of being human? I challenge everybody to take a few minutes to think a little bit more about the food on your plate before you dig into your next meal. What does it say about yourself? What does it say about the greater society and culture you are a part of?
~Nathaniel
Tags: culture, eating, food, MSG, NYT, society
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