Meals patterns of eating
- Meals are defined as the act of eating food, and as the food itself which is consumed
- meals serve nutritional as well as social purposes
- They are usually acts of commensality -the sharing of food in the company of others
- Private/ public venues
- The venue for the meal will determine the type of food, the company, and the level of social ease displayed by those in attendance
- meals provide opportunities to display our social status in front of others and expand our social network
- Domestic meals- private, everyday foods, less food, less pressure to socially perform
- Feasts-public, spacial foods, more food, greater pressure to perform socially (etiquette)
- Mealtimes: When we eat
- shaped by our energy needs, but culturally influenced by our work schedules
- h/g - big meal is in the evening when everyone congregates from gathering (and snacking) and shares food
- pastoralists and agriculturalists- organized around the needs of the herd or the tending of gardens
- agriculturalists- larger early meals to fuel garden labor, but will take time in the middle of the day to eat food with family (especially in hot climates)
- Industrialized- eat when we have breaks from work (rather than the work activities themselves). focus is on work rather than needs of workers. Social relationships come second to work responsibilities.
- When eating times are out of sync with demands of work, this leads to unhealthy eating habits (in your car, fast food, junk food,
- has this lead to obesity, eating disorders, diseases of poor nutrition?
- Proper Meals, Dishes and Cuisines
- The "proper meal" comprises specific food, dishes, and courses deemed culturally appropriate for the particular time of day, occassion, and gathering of people
- each culture has deep seated expectations that surround what is apprpriate for each meal, and how to evaluate the quality of a particular dish.
- It identifies "core staples" from "peripheral foods" that make up a cuisine's ingredients and are expected to be present in the appropriate proportions to make a meal proper
- core staples must be present in appropriate proportions for food to be classified as a "meal" rather than a "snack" (ex. RICE)
- the proper meal becomes an evaluative standard, used to determine the social value of the occasion, the food, the company, and conformity to accepted norms
- Proper meals extend into the rest of material culture associated with eating- the types of utensils, cutlery, seating, table decorations, paraphernalia- all convey important social and cultural messages that are easily read and understood by members of a culture.
- help direct and determine the appropriate behavior of people in that context.
- sustainer of social and national identity
- Ritualized commensality
- Meals are a daily reminder of the social contract- the agreement to cooperate and to create society.
- Meals have a ritual structure
- All meals act at one level as ritualized gift exchange (in the form of food and hospitality and sometimes other objects or currencies)
- Reciprocity (gift exchange)- to give and receive in a cycle of ties and positive obligations
- generalized reciprocity- between close family and friends
- where the "value" is not measured or recorded and mutual exchange is ongoing daily
- balanced reciprocity- (in ranked or stratified societies)
- where some food centered gifts and their associated meals publicly proclaim a relationship between people who are not closely related but want to be allied to one another.
- gifts carry an expectation of (timely) return and their value is overtly stated.
- Redistribution- also in some ranked and stratified societies
- claims the superiority of the giver over the receiver
- food gift is large and extravagant and may be accompanied by other extravagant gidts (all going in one direction)- more than the receiver can easily afford to return.
- Competition: obligation is fraught with status enhancing politics
- often is "Feasting" (competitive gastro-politics)
- Market Exchange- eating out (next chapter)
- Etiquette- eating manners (rules) work within cultural cosmologies and are oriented toward ideas of cleanliness, hygiene, and equitable sharing of food.
- rules for using knives, napkins, chopsticks, etc.
- children are socialized into these rules and may be required to eat separately until they are mastered
- Secular ritual (more later) - a meal has the power to mark its events as socially worthy and impress upon its participants that the social order to life, and it forges emotional ties to the meanings of the food and to the act of sharing this with others
- Kin to Strangers - Who is invited?
- Meals are patterned by the number of people, the intimacy between diners, the nature of their social relationships, and identity work.
- defines those who belong, and those who don't
- inviting diners to a meal can bridge social distance- making people more familiar with one another.
- age and gender as basic markers of social stauts are revealed in meals
- order of service
- seating
- type and amount of food
- The exchange of food in meals creates ties between people and allows individuals to play out their social competence, their reputation, all by fulfilling socially expected behaviors for the roles they occupy
- ex. Host, Guest, honored guest, plus one, children
Gastro-Politics
- The way in which people and groups manipulate the eating event to achieve some redefinition of the current socil relationships between those sharing food.
- Gastro-politics is the social order in action. -Who eats the last piece of cheese? (ex)
- The unspoken rules that you are expected to follow when dining
- In situations of unequal status, gastro-politics involves the assertion of power and authority and resistance to it.
- In relationships of relative equality, manoeverings are more subtle
- Women use gastro-politics to establish their place in the household's social order
Feasting and Fasting
- A feast is a special meal shared by two or more people for an occasion of marked significance
- requires a more conscious effort...often bring people together for important events (marriages, funerals, religious rituals, and other celebrations)
- usually require considerable levels of cooperation, especially when they are public or community wide events
- Components:
- Food- plentiful (above subsistence needs) Requiring considerable time and effort to prepare.
- men's public cooking is often involved
- distinct from everyday meals
- eating communally
- Size- usually larger than everyday meals (participants)
- Participants- brings a variety of social groupings together
- at each level, different forms of gastro-politics will be played out to maintain and claim distinct personal and group identities
- Time- they may have a designated time (based on the religious calendar, e.g.) or happen when all the necessary planning comes together
- feasts are lengthy meals
- time is always taken to eat, allowing the social and cultural significance of the event to be digested along with the food.
- Display- involve the use of special foods, quantities of food, and aesthetics.
- the context (a rarely used room) is special
- people display themselves in their finery-dinner jacket, special costumes
- Consumption is conspicuous
- Display makes the feast memorable
- Drama- the activities at the feast will dramatize the social order through differentiated seating, distinct serving order, through stories and speeches- all impress upon people the significance of what is happening
- the drama enhances the social weight of the feast
- it is emotionally charged and memorable
- Feasting correlates with social structure
- Bands and Tribes-
- a time of plenty when surpluses are available
- quantity of foods and greater amounts of common staples
- enhancement of social bonds-maintaining egalitarian ethos
- participants as co-hosts/co-guests
- Chiefdoms and States-
- time designated by tradition or by design
- quantity and quality of foods, common staples in profusion, presence of luxury and exotic foods, conspicuous consumption
- demonstration of social distance and exclusivity
- special eating utensils, formal and ofetn exaggerated rules of etiquette
Types of Feasts
- Celebratory Feasts
- celebrate an event that can encompass any number of participants from individual families to an entire nation
- occasions such as birthdays, weddings, holidays, national holidays, and religious holidays
- Thanksgiving
- Easter
- Ramadan (with fasting)
- Usually enacted as important rites of intensification bringing people, communities and nation states together in powerful ways.
- Entrepreneurial Feasts
- important part of individual and groups competitive efforts to achieve status
- often associated with chiefs or other leaders who attempt to achive status by hosting meals
- ex.potlatch
- the attendance at at acceptance of the meal signals compliance with the status claim, and through reciprocity creates obligatory ties of allegiance
- Patron Feasts
- Where the social order is more fixed, or where there is incipient stratification, feasts are ofetn used to legitimize and reiterate the existing unequal relationships of status and power.
- the host will redistribute food usually distinguished by QUANTITY rather than quality to mobilize workers, or to demonstrate the host's competence to continue to rule.
- the surplus needed to feast come from the guests themselves (feudal system)- the control of food brings power and authority to the ruler
- Exclusive Feasts
- Feasts that accentuate the differences in the social order, and consequently they are occasions that are uniquely suited to the display of high or haute cuisine in socially stratified societies.
- not everyone will be invited to attend, but all will know about it (through gossip, media, pronouncements)
- small number f very select guests
- speeches are always made
These feast types are not mutually exclusive, and a feast can have more than one of these characteristics.
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