HNH20306 - HC 1 Flashcards
Looking at bread from various disciplines
Psychology: like-dislike, individual level.
Sociology: social status, population/societal level.
Agriculture/economy: wheat grow easily, cheap.
Nutrition/physiology: healthy, vitamins.
6 values of food
- Maintenance of body
- Emotion
- Expression of societal issues and politics
- Social meaning
- Communication (romantic dinner, business lunch)
- Distinction (principle/ideals, status)
Social facilitation, modeling, impression management
People eat more when they eat with others than when they are alone
People tend to imitate each other when they eat
Women eat less because they don’t want to be seen as a big eater.
Shepherd, 1985: Factors influencing food choice
Food: physical/chemical properties, nutrient content.
Personal: psychological/biological factors.
Economic and social environment
Rozin & Sobal, 2006: Model of food choice (a)
Food: availability of culinary traditions defines the types of items that you eat.
Person: starts with early life and history that you have with foods, whether you have just eaten or not (immediate past), current situation and what you anticipate for the future.
Situation: culture demographics, atmosphere/location/social setting/distractions/culinary environment.
Rozin & Sobal, 2006: Model of food choice (b) detailed from a) under person
Personal/cultural background: personal food system (what do people like, to what extend do they go for convenient foods or not and other issues). In the end that leads to a decision/intention or action/choice.
Functionalism
- No-nonsense
* Food is functional, economical
Structuralism
- Food is more than just nutrients > food has strong symbolic meaning (‘you are what you eat’)
- Is there a relationship between obesity and social class?
Harris: Good to think, good to eat:
• No-nonsense: food taboos in the bible and other religous books were viable (= rendabel) from an …
• Taboo on pork in Islam and Judaism:
- Pig eats food that people also consume; competition for resources between pigs and humans.
- Pig does not fit with ecological habitat of Middle East: needs shelter and water.
- Pig can only be used for meat.
• Another example: considering the economic and ecological circumstances in Malawi, it makes sense to eat insects.
- Eating insects is getting more popular in Western countries in relation to sustainability.
economic perspective
Boudieu/Elias: ‘Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste’:
• Social classes and individuals try to stand out from each other (by what they eat) > …
• Social classes and individuals are characterized by …
• Competition and distinction are expressed in ‘taste’/preferences in various domains.
- Music, lectures, cars, movies, nutrition, etc. (je onderscheid jezelf van anderen door welke muziek je luistert of auto je rijdt).
• Distinction with food: taste is a way to distinct yourself. People try to conform to the group. E.g. Lidl vs. Albert Heijn, vegetarian vs. eating meat, organic vs. non organic, frozen pizzas vs. self-prepared meal.
competition between social classes
economic and cultural capital
Relationship between social class and obesity:
- In ‘low-income’-countries: people with low socio-economic position > …
- In ‘upper-middle-income’-countries: people with a low socio-economic position > …
• Risk on obesity in lower socio-economic classes increases with …
• Relationship between social class and overweight in the Netherlands: Lower educated people have … obesity than higher educated people. Predictions are that this will decline in the future.
a lower risk on obesity
a high risk on obesity
increase in BNP in country
more
Why social class overweight: - Lower social classes: ... - Higher social classes: ... • Different food choices in lower social classes: more meat, more potatoes and vegetables than rice and pasta, less vegetables and fruits, more sugar, more white bread.
no interest in health, children have free choice, preferences are fixed
strong interest in health, children limited in choice, preferences are modifiable
a) Taxonomy of acceptance and rejection – Paul Rozin:
• Taste, … (people like or dislike a food)
• Potential consequences of …
• Ideas about … (children cannot eat grass, at newyears eve you eat oliebollen).
• When ideas/properties get …
sensory affective
ingestion
(in)appropriateness with context/edibility
transferable
Transvalued; disgust/’law of sympathetic magic’/law of contagion
Objects acquire properties of each other (‘you are what you eat’) (bijv. reclame met Pieter van de Hogeband en Calvé pindakaas, wanneer je die pindakaas koopt koop je ook de property erbij).
- E.g. hair in soup, a drop of urine in orange juice, physical contact with insects > would you still eat the food/has it become disgusting?
b) The reptile brain – Piet Vroon:
Eating behavior is the result of three brain structures
- Brain stem: classical conditioning (if you taste something bitter or sweet, it is transferred to the rest of the brain).
- Limbic system: instrumental conditioning (food aversions: if you are sick after eating a food, then you get a association between the food and being sick > you learn the consequences of eating something which effects the liking of the food. Food aversion 1 of 2 per person lasts on average 11 years, mostly but not exclusively caused by high protein foods (so not because of an allergy), 80% nausea.
- Brain cortex: cognition (healthy or unhealthy food choice).
