Food As Language (Sam) Flashcards
What is food? The Health Canada definition and symbolically
Health Canada definition: “Any article manufactured, sold or represented for use as food or drink for human beings, chewing gum, and any ingredient that may be mixed with food for any purpose whatever.”
Food is symbolism: Food is most likely the most powerful tool to shape humanity - more powerful than drugs, weapons and political systems
- Food symbolism is unparalleled: it is at the core of the most important activities
How humans being omnivorous shaped human migration history and settlement
Humans are omnivores - omnivores are adaptable but require a wide variety of foods to be healthy
Hunter-gatherer lifestyle included hunting animals and foraging plant foods → cover distances, mobile lifestyle to find food → migration across the world from modern day Ethiopia (200,000 years ago first modern human)
Agriculture made settlement possible but reduced diet diversity
Introduction of trade created diversity without migration
What other institutions did the beginning of agriculture lead to in human civilization?
Food and agriculture are the reasons human civilizations exist and gave rise to:
- creation of police force (to protect food)
- military to defend fertile land
- commerce (economy and communications) to attain diet variety
- legal system to govern trade
- conditions to encourage technological development
- need for education systems
Neolithic revolution was?
12,000 years ago agriculture became preferred in the “Fertile Crescent” - Mediterranean sea to gulf of Oman and led to settlement
- Major cities are located in fertile regions
Why was agriculture beneficial during the neolithic revolution?
What were the early crops grown in agriculture?
Agriculture makes food reliable, efficient and secured as well as production
- Animal domestication began around the similar time
Early crops: wheat, barley, beans, yams, rice, maize and potatoes
What is the incorporation principle?
Who developed the incorporation principle?
Incorporation principle = Food shapes identity - identifying underlying values and meanings of foods eaten
- first rule of governing food symbolism
Developed by social scientist Claude Fischler - you are and become what you eat
- The energy, nutrients, essence and symbolic value of the food
- Food shapes identity - one eats specific foods in specific ways, food is a statement
How does the incorporation principle relate to morality?
Food is so powerful it can become a threat without regulation → morality (what is right) governs food
Morality - creates inclusion and exclusion into a society (Michel Foucault)
Ex. Each religion has moral regulations on food consumption
What is the Omnivore’s paradox?
How does it relate to morality?
Omnivore needs variety, but new/unknown food can be potentially dangerous
- Must eat a bit of everything without eating just anything - exploration + caution
Morality brings order to chaos: eating must be disciplined because it can be a blessing or a curse
What is the Clean Living reform and how did it arise?
What other movements were created from the Clean Living reform?
Industrialization led to → end of famine, and pushback from “Clean Living” reform (John Harvey Kellog)
- Clean living promoted purity of food to promote health
Led to creation of:
1) Temperance movement derived from this, using quality grain for cows instead
2) Evangelist movement - milk symbolizing purity/virginity
3) Food reformers - live and eat a temperate life - simple, plain, more natural (whole foods, no refined foods, cultural diversity of foods = threatening)
How was the first food guide created?
First food guide created as part of national identity to be healthy for your country (to prep for wars) → development nutrition study and education
Originally food guides were created to guide people to be “good citizens” by eating to be healthy for their country
What concept did Levi Strauss create?
What two major concepts did his theory combine?
Levi Strauss said: eating behavior can be analyzed as a language
- Changing the order, punctuation or word in a sentence can change the meaning - same goes for food
Combines incorporation principles (underlying values) and the omnivore’s paradox (positives/negatives, morality)
Why is it important for dietitians to understand food as language?
What negative impacts can a dietitian have in modifying someone’s diet?
Nutrition is the study of nutrition process, food components, actions, interactions and balance related to health/disease
BUT
Dietitians changing nutrients can impact the values associated with foods (and identity)
Too many modifications can be unsettling, stressful and impact identity: changes frame of reference, sense of belonging, identity and social interactions
Ex. detrimental impact of forced dietary changes in indigenous communities in Canada
