Barbara Bonnekessen Ne w Mexico Tech ••Food is Good to Teach AN EXPLORATION OF THE CULTURAL M EAN ING S OF FOOD
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Barbara Bonnekessen
Ne w Mexico Tech
••Food is Good to TeachA N E X PL O RA T IO N O F T H E C U L T U R A L M E A N IN G S
O F FO O D
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A B S T R A C T
This article focuses on the teaching of culture through the lens of food . It discusses a
course o f food and culture , in which students considered various foodstuffs and
tradition s as means to explor e various cultural areas, including subsistence and '"'" '•Culture
eco nom ic issues, gend er and racial stra tifica tion , ethnic and nationalist iden tities, and &
m ore . Dr aw ing on the results of an in-class survey and class discussions, the artic le Society
highlights a wide range of ideas and beliefs as well as areas of emerging resistance to
cultural diversity which became highly visible to the students because the topic of
" f o o d " seemed innocent and safe.
Keywords : cultu re, teaching, diversity, food , resistance
Introduction
Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes food as
one of the basic needs and rights of every human being whose government
has signed and ratified the Declaration. But as with any of the articles, the
realization of this right is not a given, but depends on a country's cultural
ideas about eligibility and entitlement. What is important in regard to food
is not the human right or even the biological need; cultures create ideas,
rituals and rules around food that specify quite clearly what is good to eat by
whom, how people may "reasonably" be denied access, and how to reward or
punish those who cultivate, prepare and serve food. In short, food becomes
a lens through which we may explore the stratified realities of a society, its
ideas about worth, about class, sex/gender, race, religion, and even
nationality and humanity.
Interest in food has exploded in many areas; food-related research has
carved out a solid niche in cultural anthropology; medical and nutritional
guidelines to healthy eating are easily accessible and frequently discussed;
cookbooks are taking over even more bookstore space; and a whole television
channel is dedicated to foods and their preparations. The preceding
sentence indicates the problem: even a cursory glance at the food-related
research in cultural anthropology shows an intensive interest in the
historical, social, economic, political, religious—in short, cultural meanings
established and enforced in the production, transportation and consumption
of foods. For the reader of medical and nutritional information, the focus ison self-improvement and/or maintenance, sometimes extended to the
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only as they appear on the kitchen counter. When I began to design a lower-
level undergraduate course on food and culture, I intended to situate the
course firmly in the anthropological meaning, but had the suspicion that my
students wanted to explore the epicurean hedonism so frequently privileged
"'• '3 •• ""• ̂ in con sum er-o rien ted food dis cus sion s.JIIIIC 10
Teaching about food outside of health and nutrition curricula hasincreased manifold over the past years and most teaching now oecurs within
the context of sociology and anthropology (Gargill 2005). While historically
each ethnography included a ehapter about a people 's subsistence
techniques and major staples, the focus now is frequently on globalization,
ethnic and racial construction, ideas of gendering and of class, nationality
and immigration, and worker's rights and animal suffering (see, for example,
Go unih an and Van Esterik 20 07; Wilk 200 6). In my course , 1 wan ted to
cover all these topics, but I was interested to know the level of my students'
awareness of the cultural context of food before we began the class.
Immediately after welcoming them to the semester, I asked the twenty-six
students to fill out a questionnaire that asked about their families' and their
own dealings with food (including its origin, nutrition, preparation and
serving), and the knowledge (or stereotypes) they might have about food
taboos related to sex, ethnicity, and religion. It is very important to note that
my students cannot major in a social science; although loeated in the very
culturally diverse South West (New Mexico), we are a science, teehnology,
engineering and mathematics university where I am the only culturalanthropologist. Students are required to take a few social science courses,
but most have no background in any social science field.
Before I describe the questionnaire and discuss the results, a brief
description of the course materials will provide some context. The class
began with the origins and historical migrations of today's staple foods,
diseussing not only domestication, but also food exchange systems and
eolonial appropriations. Food items, such as the potato, became a lens
through which we eould see not just nutritional information, but also
geopolitical history. The largest part of the course was dedicated to an
exploration of various meanings of foods to members of identified population
groups; we asked how food eould mark gender, class, "race" and ethnicity, as
well as religion. Gourse materials included research publications, ranging
from paleontology to sociological examinations of body image, while
statistical information c am e from the De pa rtm en t of Ag riculture, the World
Health Organization, and Food and Agriculture Organization. Videos were
chosen to reflect cultural uses of food and, frequently, abuses of food
produeers (e.g. we watched the original "Harvest of Shame" news reportbefore discussing contemporary migrant farm workers).
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variations. Food is an excellent lens through which we can appreciate the
universal need for nourishment that finds a myriad of diverse expressions in
food's cultural messag es and u ses. However, hum an cultural diversity is a
sociopolitical minefield where some differences are exaggerated (e.g. sex and
"race "), wh ile others are greeted with hostile disdain (e.g. sexuality, class and ^ ''"°^'" , , Culuire
migran t e thn ic i ty ) . Cons t ruc t ions of the "other" frequently u se images of &
" inhuman" hab i t s , a n d food c a n play a central role in such discr iminat ion. A s Society
the c lass progressed, m y s t u d e n t s had to face t h e difference hetween a
t o l e r a n t a p p r e c i a t i o n of different foodways ( a n d c u l t u r e s ) a nd a n
e t h n o c e n t r i c c o n d e m n a t i o n of different foodways ( a n d c u l t u r e s ) . M o s t of
t he d i scuss ions desc r i bed in the r e m a i n d e r of this art icle i l luminate t h e
struggle over this difference.
T h e qu e s t i o n n a i r e I admini s t e red began wi th demographic ques t ions ,
a sked t h e r e sp o n d e n t s to remember thei r famil ies ' food habi ts a nd t o r e c o u n tthe i r o w n re la t ionship wi th food preparat ion, moved into quest ions
c o n c e r n i n g t h e symbol ic uses of foods, a n d ended wi th ques t ions ahout
h u n g e r . I n t e r sp e r se d w e r e so m e o p e n -e n d e d qu e s t i o n s a sk i n g for
defini t ions. Al though some interest ing t idbi ts c a n been drawn from t h e data
through a stat ist ical analysis, t h e vast majority of r e sp o n se s did not elicit a n y
meaningful corre la t ions to, for example , demographic da ta . There fore , t h e
major interpre ta t ion of the data w a s done through text analysis , compared
with in-c lass discus sions. N on e of the resul ts c a n b e general ized; m y class
speaks only fo r itself. Below, 1 will briefly in tro du ce t h e bas ic demographic
composi t ion of the class , a n d will then discuss several themes that emerged
as important (ei ther posit ively or negatively) in bo t h t h e qu e s t i o n n a i r e s a n d
the matching c lass session.
O f t h e twenty-six s tudents , t e n were female a n d sixteen male; with tw o
except ions , t h e re spondent s ind ica ted sex to gender agreement ( o n e male
and o n e female identified as undifferent ia ted; o n e female d id no t r e sp o n d to
the gender quest ion) . F i f teen ident i f ied as E u r o p e a n -A m e r i c a n , six as
mult iple e thnic i t ies (all European-Amer ican p lus e i the r H ispan ic , Na t iveAmer ican , As ian Amer ican , or M i d d l e -E a s t e r n A m e r i c a n ) , tw o each as
Ea t ino a n d in ternat ional , a nd on e a s Asian-Amer ican . T h e average age \vas
2 3 . 5 , ranging from 18 to 46 . Seven grew up in an urban envi ronment , t h ree
in ei ther a n "inner ci ty" or an other impoverished neighborhood, four in
s u b u r b s , a n d nine in rura l areas. Three moved during thei r chi ldhood. Only
one student ident i f ied h is original class as upper class; however, h e also
a n sw e r e d to have grown up in an "inner c i ty" / impoverished ne ighb orhood
and might have misunderstood t h e qu e s t i o n s , a n i nhe ren t p rob lem wi th
quest ionnaires . Fourteen respondents l i s ted thei r famil ies as middle c lass ,
four as working c lass , a nd tw o a s lower class/poverty. Four students' families
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vol. 13 :: no . 1jtttte 10
them, tvvetity-three grew food lor their own consumption and seventeen
hu nte d For their own con sum ptio n, while eleven had h un ted for sport. Only
four and six respectively grew food or raised animals for sale.
Food for Fami l ies
One of the first questions on the questionnaire asked the students to name
and describe a special meal in their families. iVlany specified at least one
dish, ranging from turkey for Thanksgiving and chocolate cake for birthdays
to dishes with an assumed immigrant past (borscht and pirogi) for family get-
togethers or Sunday breakfast. A question about h om e food shopping,
preparation, serving and clean-up elicited an expected majority of "mother"
responses; while the same question for the respondents ' current household
showed that most either did all the food-related work themselves, whilesome now do this with a partner/spouse, or live off the school's dining hall.
Most respondents credited their mothers with teaching them to cook, mostly
around the age of ten, still cook regularly today, and many enjoy cooking.
When I began the class session focused on food and gender with a
discussion of women's centrality in providing food for their families (see, for
exatnple, Esterik 1999; Fauve-Chamoux 2000), my students happily agreed
with that focus. Women as mothers are expected to feed all family members,
visitors and the occasional neighbor (Williams 2006) and, for just a few
minutes, my students generously attributed the ti t le "provider' to women
who mother (although public breastfeeding did elicit some negative remarks
predominantly by male students; see also Esterik 2008; Fauve-Chamoux
2000). Briefly sidetracking the discussion to the fact that many women also
produced the food they cook and serve, either through growing or hunting
(Beoku-Betts 1995), wrinkled a few brows, but otherwise passed almost
unnoticed.
Equally successful were any video-clips that showed women cooking and
ser\'ing foods to their families. While rnale participation was visible, thestudents managed to ignore that and focused on women, particularly older
women. As my students happily agreed that women and food go together, I
did have to ask the pesky question why, if women should be so central to
food, current American culture makes it so conflict-laden for women to eat
and I began to show images of cadaverous fashion mo dels.
Food for G e n d e r
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c l a imed men a t e mea t (mos t l y s t eak) and t h i r t een t ha t women a t e s a l ads
( the othe r two of fered "f rui ty dr ink s" an d "s t rawberry , fon du e, eh oe ola te
c a k e " ) . S o m e r e s p o n d e n t s i n d i c a t e d t h e i r a w a r e n e s s o f r e p e a t i n g a
s t e r eo type (qu es t i on and quo t a t i on m arks , " s t e r eo type ! " wr i t t en i n marg ins ) ,
bu t t he i r awarenes s o f t he s t e r eo type was ce r t a in ly we l l i nd i ca t ed . T he '"°°''-
co nv erse qu es t ion ( foods avoided by me n or w om en ) was only an sw ere d by &•
elev en re sp on de nt s and only two of the se revers ed tb e ex pec ted s ter eo typ e, Socieiy
whi le a to ta l of f ive did say tbat men avoid e i tber sa lads or vegetables and
two pos tu l a t ed a f ema le ave r s ion to me a t . O n e r e sp on de n t d id po in t ou t t b a t
b o t b m e n a n d w o m e n s b o u l d a vo id e a ti n g " h u m a n . " " R e al M e n E a t M e a t "
see m s a s t rong er co m m an d tba n any o tbe r . And r ea l m en ea t .
T be cen t r a l i t y of m ea t to Am er i can ma scu l i n i t y is we l l do cu m en ted w i tb
resp ec t t o gen de r (e .g . An ab i t a and M ix 20 06 ; He inz 199 8 ; Wi l l a rd 2 00 2)
and e tbn i c i t y (C ur r a r i no 2007) . Mos t o f my s tuden t s were we l l aware o f t b i s
pb en om en on and han d l ed a c r i ti ca l d i s cus s ion o f it qu i t e we l l. A f ew ma les ,
bowever , s eemed t o be t oo i nves t ed i n "mea t = man" t o even cons ide r t be
poss ib i l i t y t ha t t be consumpt ion o f mea t was ne i t be r a un ive r sa l bab i t no r
tbe c iv i l i z i ng fo rce t ba t t be "Man tbe Hunte r " i deo logy bas pos tu l a t ed
( D a b l b e r g 1 9 8 1 ; S l o e u m 1 9 7 5 ) . M e a t w a s p e r s o n a l — a s w a s w e i g b t .
W bi l e obes i ty am on g Am er i ca ns i s a f r equen t l y d i scus sed t op i c an d
weigb t - l os s adv i ce and a s s i s t ance i s r ead i l y ava i l ab l e , none o f my s tuden t s
cou ld answ er t be que s t i on ' ' wben is it eno ug b?" O ur d i scus s io n o f gen der ed
bodies e l ic i ted a s t rong preference for b ig , but not too big , men and s lenderw o m e n . T b e m a l e s t u d e n t s w e r e b a p p y — b a v i n g c u l t u r a l p e r m i s s i o n t o e a t
more t ban o tbe r s s eems pos i t i ve , un l e s s one r ea l i zes t be p res su re on young
m e n w i t b s e d e n t a r y o c c u p a t i o n s t o m u s c l e - u p ( H a t o u m a n d B e l l e 2 0 0 4 ;
P a r a se c o li 2 0 0 8 ) . T b e f em a l e s t u d e n t s w e r e r e si g n e d to t b i n n e s s - p r e s s u r e
unt i l tbey rea l ized tbat too tb in i s a rare ly ment ioned, ye t l e tbal outcome of
t b e i n c e s s a n t w e i g b t- l o s s d e m a n d . A n d a ll w e r e s t u n n e d w b e n I p o i n t e d o u t
tba t my body - im age , as a resul t o i: m idd le E ur op ea n socia l iza t ion, a l lows For
a f ema le b eau ty image t ba t i s "cu rvace ous , " "p l easan t l y p lu m p, " or even
' ' w o m a n l y " w b e r e e s p e c i a l l y w b i t e m i d d l e - c l a s s A m e r i c a n w o m e n s e e a n d
bear "fat ."
T o my su rp r i s e , t be s t ronges t r e s i s t ance came no t t o t be c r i t i que o f
f e m i n i n e s t a r v a t io n , b u t t o t b e d o c u m e n t a t i o n t b a t w e i g b t - b a s e d
d i sc r im ina t i on i s, i nde ed , ba rmfu l t o t be v i c t im . D i s cuss ing w orkp l ace
d i sc r im ina t i on ag a ins t pe rce ived ove rwe igb t adu l t s (R oeb l i ng e t al. 2 0 0 7 )
and more gene ra l s capegoa t i ng ( Ju l i e r 2008) , i t became obv ious t ba t on ly
very few s tudents were able to res i s t tbe lure of socie ta l permiss iveness to
i l l -ma nne red r em ark s . T b e c l a im tba t "ave rage" - s ized peop l e sbou ld be
al lowed to f ree ly cr i t i c ize overweigbt individuals was coucbed in terms of
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smokescreen to justify harassment, most students began to admit that
variations in human body weight were indeed not legitimate grounds for
discrimination. A couple of female students were not convinced, adhering to
the mandated low-weight feminine ideal themselves—one class lecture
vol. 13 :: no. 2 could make only a small dent into a lifetime of body image socialization.jiiiie 10 > o
Food for Ethnicity/Race and Religion
Teaching about the relationship of food to race and ethnicity as well as
religion proved to be the two most contentious sections of this course. In
both categories, stereotypes and ignorance were freely confessed and
commit ted , and class discussions occasionally got rather heated. On the
quest ionnaire , I asked the respondents to list food that should be consumed
to show that one is a "typical" member of an American ethnic and racialgroup and to list the foods that were to be avoided for such identification,
followed by the parallel question regarding the diet of a "devout" follower of
the major religions.
Many responses on the initial questionnaire indicated that the s tudents
were quite aware of the potential for stereotyping inherent in such a listing.
Six European-American respondents (two female, four male) did not answer
an y of the questions relating to permit ted or tabooed ethnic and religious
foods (although one of them offered "leftovers" as a food for devout
Buddhists; this may indicated a confusion with Hindus where leftovers were
traditionally to be avoided; Appadurai 2008). Three respondents offered only
one or two answers out of the twenty-six questions in this section: a
Hispanic male offered only "beans and chili" as a Hispanic food; a male of
European-American, Hispanic and Native Am erican descen t suggested
"beans and rice" for Hispanics and the avoidance of "pig and shellfish" for
Jewish diners; and an Asian-American female suggested the avoidance of
"pigs" for Musl ims. The rest ofthe respondents were more voluble, although
eight of the remaining seventeen had mueh more to say about what a personof a certain group should eat then what they should avoid.
The resulting lists were a hodgepodge of stereotypes and, occasionally,
very strange prescriptions. For a "true European-American" diet , the
suggestions ranged from potatoes, really sour/vinegar)' foods, tofu, raw
herring, spaghetti, goulash, corned beef, pasta primavera, fish and cottage
cheese, milk, crème brûlée, spätzle, hamburgers, pita bread with Greek
salad, to steak, and back to meat and potatoes, while the forbidden foods
included swordfish, McDonald's, curry, beef, fried chicken and Asian Indianfood. It is interesting to note that the latter group was offered solely by
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stereotyping of "white" food, the above list is ver)' likely representative of
personal prefer ences , ra ther than an expression of mand atory "racial" or
ethnic symbolism.
T he twelve resp on den ts who suggested foods for African-A mericans did
so often with an apology; the foods listed were "food created during slavery," '""°'''
chic ken , fried chick en (eight time s), w aterm elon (three time s), "colored &
greens " (a seemingly fre quen t misspelling of collard green s), "koolaid," grape ""'' -drink, grits, chitterlings and greens, gumbo and meat loaf. Foods to be
avoided were instant grits, anything high in sodium, tofu, avocado, lobster,
Szechvvan beef and tortillas. None of the respondents had identified as
African-American; of the eight references to "fried chicken," four came from
white males, one from a Hispanic male, and the other three from women of
multiple ancestries.
I was prep ared for the list of "proper" Hisp anic/L atino foods (tacos (2),
burritos (2), chalupa, posóle (2), tamales (3), menudo (2), beans (5) andrefried beans, chili (2), rice, carne adovada, enchiladas, tortillas (2), and
fajitas), but was surprised that one should avoid Taco Bell, burgers, seafood,
onions, steamed rice and fresh vegetables, and spaghetti . As my students
assured me later in the semester that chili was an absolute integral part of
New Mexiean foods, the small amount of chili here, as well as its absence
from th e diets of Eu rop ean and Native Am ericans m ust be striking.
Asian-Americans were said to prefer rice (8), fried rice and rice noodles,
cabbage, chicken chow mein, egg rolls, pad Thai, dog, cat, orange chicken,sushi (2), fresh stir-fried vegetables, seaweed. General Tso's, noodles, and to
avoid Panda Express, pizza, dairy ("they lack an enzyme"), cow, hamburger,
fried frog legs, and MeDonald's.
Th e preferred diet for Native Am ericans was listed as venison, pe m m ican,
salmon, elk, corn stalk tamales, ashes, corn (2), buffalo, wildebeest. Navajo
taeo, wild game, fried bread (2), goat and deer, while avoiding rice, Twinkies
and pizza. Of tbe respondents, three had identified as including a Native
American ancestry; one did not answer this question, one contributed the
"corn stalk tamales," and the third "corn, buffalo and wildebeest"—it is
especially the last animal, of indubitably African origin, which makes me
assume that the claimed Native American ancestry' does not extend to
me m bersh ip in a curren t Native Am erican comm unity.
The only respondent identified as Middle-Eastern-American did not
respond to this question; all others deeided that proper food should include
exotic rice, goat, hummus (2), curry (2), corn, ginger chicken with wild rice,
pita (2), couscous, and shish kebab. Adversely, salad, salmon, fried pork loin,
and an ything eate n with one's left h and were to be avoided. A wh ite m alementioned here that "it depends on country," a remark he had already
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In an interesting puzzle, in a class where so many did not have any
empirical knowledge of particular ethnic foods apart from named cuisines
(e.g. Chin ese food), a video abo ut eth nic foods was the biggest suc cess .
"Food & Cu ltur e," the second part of the PBS series "The M ean ing of Food "
vol. 13 :: no.,2 (Ca rgiu lo 200 5) pro bably was the closest we ever cam e to the o riginaljutttt 10
expectations of the students. Flearing about Gullah and rice, Makahwhaling, and Czech kolaches offered the class that kaleidoscope of edible
variety that makes food traditions appealing and safe.
The class discussions offered some interesting resistance; while most
students were willing to define foods as typical for assumed ethnic identities,
the corollary' that groups could be denigrated because they were associated
with certain foods was more difficult to comprehend. In the
1 abov em ention ed video, the Cu llah exam ple m ade reference to
discrimination based on the charge of "rice eaters." It may have been the
particular staple or maybe discomfort at being reminded that many people
use food habits as an accusation of lesser humanity, but most students felt
that su ch d iscrimin ation cou ld not occur. I did point out tha t "we" are
frequently eager to learn about the strange foodstuffs consumed by the
"other" (Heldk e 20 08 ), most no tably insects. Yet althoug h on e of my
stu de nts introd uced the topic outs ide of class, 1 refused to satisfy this
'. potentially racist side of food exploration by featuring those staples or hunger
foods that would eng end er expressions of disgust. I did me ntion insect fare,
but did not delve as much into the topic as, for example, Hopkins (1999)does.
For the identified religious groups, the knowledge of allowed and tabooed
foods decreased even more. Most respondents were unsure about foods
required of devout Protestants (they suggested salads, fish, saltines, salads
with dressing, casserole (2), unleavened bread, fried chicken and potato
salad, corn, and one "anything") and forbidden to them ("a bowl of mud,"
lobster, veal and "people," in addition to "nothing" and "they eat anything!").
Catholics did not fare much better; allowed to eat "anything" and
"everything," there is also fish (2), bread, salad, fish wafers, lamb and "holy
communion, " with "non-meat during Eent" and a "same except for Eenl"
following a respondent's Protestant diet of fried chicken and potato salad.
Catholics were to avoid crabs, steak on Fridays, and "people," and two
respondents were sure that nothing was to be avoided for this group.
The respondents suggested that devout Jews are allowed gefilte fish,
bread (3), latkes (2), Hebrew National dogs, soup, lamb, vegetables, matzah
and hummus; six respondents did however realize the importance of kosher
foods, while one specified "nothing treth" (U"l"1 or treyf, Hebrew l^nsn
trëfcih). The same respondent specified foods to be avoided as "Treth: e.g.
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bone, generalized to "anything not kosher" (3), and one thought that eating
was forbidden during Passover.
For Muslims, the prescribed diet ranged from "non-pork" and "anything
but pork" to rice, curry, lamb (2), meat, basmati rice, couscous and dates
with milk (this resp on den t hailed from M oroc co), to halal (rJ U -, halal, ''" '" '•„ ' Ciilliirc
halaal) foods (2 ) . Forbidden foods were pork (7 ) , octopus, beer , "anything &from a cow," avocado a n d beef, with general iza t ions of non-hala l (2) , "any Sociciy
foods forbidden by Koran [sic]", a n d , accord ing t o t he sa m e r e sp o n d e n t w h o
forbade Jews from eating during Passover, "anything during Ramadan."
W hi le Chr i s t i an , Jews a n d Musl ims evoked some (if somet imes wrong)
knowledge about their food regulations, most of my re spondent s were a t a
loss when if c a m e to a n sw e r t h e sa m e qu e s t i o n s for B u d d h i s t s a n d H i n d u s .
Buddhists were sa id to eat "leftovers" (already discussed above), vegan,
"chutes" (possibly "chutney") , r ice (6 ) , let tuce, fresh vegetables, fruit , a n d
were thought to avoid "anything that had a soul ," mea t (3 ) , hawks, ice-cream
sundaes , an imal s , a n d pork. Hindus were sa id to prefer "non-beef foods,"
"vegetarian (n o onions/garl ic)" curry (2 ) , rice (3) , and "cow urine, milk," a n d
were to avoid meat ( 3 ; o n e with onion a n d garlic added), veal , T-bone, beef
and pork.
The c lass discussion foeused o n religious food taboos, specifically as they
rela ted to food avoidance a n d fast ing. For th e vast majority of the class, this
was a very familiar topic. Many mentioned fast ing fo r L e n t or R a m a d a n as
something they e i ther pract iced themselves or were at least familiar with.The concept that re l igious authori t ies demanded such sacr i f ices f rom devout
followers w a s seen as a regular part of belonging to such a communi ty ,
wha tever t h e particular rel igion. O n e student , however , a self-described
fundamental is t Protestant , became very disrupt ive during t he two class
sessions that focused o n this topic. Unwill ing to a c c e p t t h e validity of o t h e r
re l igious t radi t ions, this s tudent responded to all m e n t i o n s of food taboos
and fast ing wi th audible sounds of derision a n d disgust . H e r breaking point
c a m e w h e n I showed a video clip about a cookbook p u t together from
rec ipes remembered by capt ives in Naz i concent ra t ion camps (Garg iu lo
2 0 0 5 ) , making t h e connect ion between re l igious persecut ion a n d survival
st ra tegies based on food. H e r subsequent remark tha t t h e persecu t ion w a s
just ified if misguided in its m e t h o d s wa s so hor rendous tha t w e were all
s t u n n e d . S h e left t h e classroom before anybody could respond a nd wa s very
careful in her remarks for the rest of the semester .
F o o d fo r C l a s s
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jtttte 10
before tbe semester began. Despite tbis reality, tbe images one sees wben
turning on a television, driving along any suburban fast food "row," or
browsing tbrougb magazines in tbe supermarket are tbose of an over-
abundance of meals and an obesity epidemic. I bad expected a strong
vol. I:Î :: no. 2 privileging of tbis second set of images, but as I started to code tbe
qu estio nn aires , 1 was struek by tbe ove restimation of bung er and food
insecurity in tbe United States, in New Mexico, and in tbe world at large intbe first four questio nn aire s. 1 pulled tbe answ ers from all qu estion naire s
and realized tbat witb a few exceptions, my students overestimated bunger
percentages and numbers in tbe United States (11 percent vs tbeir 21.4
percent), in New Mexico (16.8 percent vs tbeir 31.1 percent), and in tbe
world (almo st 1 billion vs tbeir 2.96 billion) (statistics from Ce nsus .gov ).
We bad started tbe seeond class session witb a discussion of tbis surprise.
I adm itted to a researcber bias: 1 bad expected tbem to undere stim ate tbe
numbers and offered myself as a good example of faulty researcbassumptions. If you tbink you know sometbing, get tbe data—you migbt be
surprised. In tbe discussion, students gave different reasons for tbeir
answers: a couple bad no information at all, but bad been guessing, wbile
anotber worked in one of tbe poorest scbool districts and saw cbildren on
free luncb programs every day and assumed tbat tbis was "normal." Many
students bear about global poverty and bunger (tbe global estimates were
triple, wbile tbe otber two were just double) and rarely bear about well-off
folks in otber countries; tbey were certain tbat all people outside tbe United
States were poor and bungr)' . Many students knew tbat New Mexico is one
of tbe poorest states in tbe United States; tbe statistical mode was 20
percent (five answers), and tbe United States overestimate was due to tbree
answers of 50 percent, wbile tbe mode was 25 percent (eleven answers, but
ten answered 10 percent; wbicb is close to tbe actual percentage). Tbe
majority of tbe students, bowever, felt confused by tbe term "food insecurity"
(now tbe official US government designation); tbey were not sure bow tbis
related to "bunger," and, of course, I bad taken care not to predispose tbeir
answers by giving a definition.Our class discussions covered several topics rougbly united under "class."
We discussed bunger foods and tbeir induced scarcity by Western gourmets;
lands given over to casb-crop production and tbe subsequent lack of
subsistence food production; tbe derailment of buman food, specifically
grains, to feed animals for meat production, and cars for transportation
(etbanol fuel); and we never lost sigbt of tbe workers wbo produce foods for
tbe global and national table wbile barely surviving tbemselves. Of all tbe
difficult topics of tbe semester, tbis was tbe one tbat garnered tbe leastresistance. Once I translated tbe meaning of sucb politicized terms as "food
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income and food. This insight was strongest when, after watching "Harvest
of Shame," we discussed the current si tuation of food-producing migrant
workers, their l i \dng conditions, and the public policies that disempower
them. There was, of course, some resistance; after watching an online video
clip of desperately poor people living on and off a garbage dump, one of my ''°°'''
students, from a subsistence farming community, protested that "these &
peo ple" should just grow som e food, jus t as her family had don e. It stun ne d .ociuty
her to be remind ed that not al! people, especially in urban areas, have acce ss
to arable land.
Our most memorable posit ive discussion, al though located in the section
on "forbidden bodies," did create an unexpeeted class consciousness. We
began with a clip from "The Meaning of Food" (Gargiulo 2005), which
featured a man whose career included cooking the last meal for death-row
inmates, a topic I chose because of the usual invisibility of such a profession.
My students were bewildered; after we saw the clip and I mentioned some
states ' rules about the cost of last meals, most students pointed out that (a)
nobody should skimp on the cost of somebody else's last meal, and (b) any
health justifications for food limitations (or even smoking prohibitions) were
rather pointless in light of the prisoners' fate.
Food for Thought
For my students, at the beginning of the semester, food was good to eat.
Many had enrolled in the class because of a specific gourmand interest and
were surprised to find that food was so much more than just what was on
their plate. They encountered food as an environmental i tem in discussions
about domestications and uses of pesticides; food as colonial goods, driving
and feeding colonialism and globalization for over 500 years; they met
workers in the nineteenth-century coffee plantations and in today's tomato
fields and slaughterhouses; and they had to come to grips with the use of
food to mark religion, ethnicity and gender.
Sometimes they left class swearing they would never eat again; at other
times, they were ready to raid whatever pantry was accessible. But reactions
often did not evolve around food per se, but around the meanings of food.
For some students, the class materials and diseussions were painful. As
already discussed, one student's religious narcissism did not permit her to
listen to a discussion of the dietary prescriptions of her co-religionists and
other religions; the same student, who had proudly pointed out that visible
collarbones were a mark of beauty for women, frequently made disparagingremarks about overweight individuals, something that became a problem
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JtltlC 10
information showing that the human species had never been carnivorous,
but that plant foods (especially as procured by women) were a normal and
often major part of the hominid and human diet. During a discussion on the
variations of vegetarianism, the same student was at pains to show that the
vol. 13 :: no. 2 well-documented suffering of animals bred for industrial slaughter was to be
disregarded as a measure of masculine pride.
The resistance to food as a cultural marker was not surprising to me, but
it affected many students whose interest in food had been self-centered
before the course. To take a seemingly innocuous item, such as dinner, and
to connect it not only to environmental concerns, but to the economy,
politics, social stratification, history and such ideological areas as religion
and art formed an introduction to American (and other) culture(s). Students
may have dismissed the "and culture" part of the class title in the beginning
of the semester, but by the semester 's end, that part had achieved
prominence .Food is, indeed, good to teach. Using such an innocent point of entry, the
cultural anthropologist can lead a class through all areas of any society's
culture, exploring economic and political inequalities as well as ideological
eonstructs of race, gender, and even "normal" body forms. Food becomes a
historical process and an international relations marker. But for the educator
who teaches about good nutrition and healthy living, the connection
between food and culture is equally important. Foods that are important to
group and individual identity, no matter howdamaging they may be over the
long run, cannot just be removed from the table. Great care must be taken
not to impugn a group's self-image by criticizing their food traditions, and no
dietary changes can be imposed by outsiders. Nutritionists may do well to
work with anthropologists to become conversant with the real meanings of
any food item, meanings that can rarely be expressed in calories and
carbohydrates, but more often by "this is what we eat."
Acknowledgments
The author is grateful to her students who were such intrigued and
intriguing participants in her class.
References
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A ppendix: Questionn aire
Age:
Se.x (check most appropriate):femalemaleinterse.xtrans (f to m or m to f)
Gender (check most dominant):femininemasculineundifferentiated
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Wlii te/European-American
Black/African American
Hispanic/Latino/a
Native American
Asian-American/Pacific Islander
Middle-Eas tern-Americanvol. 13 :: no . 2
Non-US (please add countrj 'of origin + ethnic/racial group if applicable);
Main residential area when growing up:urban (established neigbborhood or urban renewal area)
inner city, impove risbed neigbbo rbood , public housing
etbnic enclave
suburban
Class membersbip of family wbiie growing up:
upper class (employment- independent)
middle class (professional)
working class (vocational, farming)
lower class/poverty (unskilled or under-employed)
Did (or does) your lamily bave a special dish or meal tbat is prepared on special occasions?
Name tbe main ingredients of the disb(es), wbo prepares it, and for wbicb occasion it is
prepared.
In your family, who did most of the:
meal planning
grocery shopping
food preparation
food serving
clean-up
In your current bousebold, wbo does most of tbe:
meal planning
grocer) ' sbopping
food preparation
food serving
clean-up
Dietary preference:
omnivore with meat/fish preference
omnivore with vegetable preference
vegetarian
vegan
Lengtb:
lifelong
witbin past ten years
witbin past five years
witbin past year
If your dietary preference cbanged over tbe past ten years, wbat was tbe major reason for tbe
change?
medical
nutritional
income
ethics
other
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E.xpiain:
Have you ever:
grown food lor own consumption
grown food for sale to others
hunted/fished for own consumption
hunt ed/fish ed lor sport „, I /(.. I V . Cullurc
raised animals/lisn ror consum ption „
raised anim als/fish for sale to oth ers Socieiv
If you buy prepared foods:
f^ow often do you read nutritional labels?
How often do you e.xplore the origin of the food you consume (growing and
canning/freezing/packaging)?
How often do you consider the workers who grow, harvest, package, and transport the food
to your store?
Do you cook?
I know how to Follow instruc tions to heat up pre-coo ked foods
I can cook one dish without consulting a recipe
1 can cook quit e well if I have detailed reeipesI can grab any ten ingred ients from th e eupbo ard and fridge and pre pare an excellent meal
from seratcb
Cook? Does ordering pizza count as cooking?
If you cook:
Who taught you the basics? (relationship, not name)
How old were you wben you began to prepare food?
Do you eook for others? How often per day/per week?
If you cook for others, do you cook because:
you like to?
it is e.xpected of you?there would be no food otherwise?
Do you diet?
Current ly
Once last year
Cons tant ly
Why?
How?
You are tr)'ing to impress a person important to you in a restaurant.
Which foods to you order?
Which foods do you avoid?
What do you want your choice to say about you?
Name a food tbat indieates:
upper elass
middle elass
working class
lower class/poverty
Name a food that a person would eat to show that they are:
a real man
a real woman
a true European American
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a true Asian American
a true Native American
a true ^'lidclle Eastern American
a devout Protestant Chris tian
a devout Catholic
a devout Jew
a devout Muslim
a devout Buddiust
a devout H indu
For the same groups, which foods should not be consumed:
a real man
a real woman
a true European American
a true African American
a true i-iispanic/Latino/a
a true Asian American
a true Native American
a true Middle Eastern American
a devout Protestant Chris tian
a devout Catholica devout Jew
a devout Muslim
a devout Buddhist
a devout Hindu
Define:
food
diet
health food
junk lood
overweight
underweighthunger
food insecurity
In your estimate, how many households in the US do not have enough food?
none to less than 1 percent
under to ahout 10 percent
ahout 25 percent
ahout 50 percent
ahout 75 percent
more than 80 pereent
What is the percentage of food-insecure households in New Mexico?
There are currently more than 6.5 hillion people on this globe. How many suffer from hunger?less than 1 billion
1 billion
2 billion
3 billion
4 billion
5 billion
>6 billion
Unless ill, elderly, or otherwise incapacitated, do/will you ever expect any other person to
prepare and serve food to you in your home on a daily basis? Why?
Using as mueh space as you need, explain how food is important to you:
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