Food and Identity Reflection

             After learning a lot about how food identity connect, I decided to do some research and finds some other people's take on the topic. In the article “Food, Self and Identity” It talks about how food connects to people in different ways, the article states “The approach it adopts, however, is based on the realization that the human relationship to food obviously is a complex one. It combines at least two different dimensions. The first runs from the biological to the cultural, from the nutritional function to the symbolic function. The second links the individual to the collective, the psychological to the social. Yet a rapid overview of the abundant literature on human food suggests that few of the salient works on the subject have directly addressed this multi-dimensional character.” This quote basically explains how you can connect with food on a mental level and not just through culture. In another article I read called “The Hidden Significance of What We Eat” It talks about how food can spark debates on health and how food is talked about in certain places. The article says “The three recently considered the research on food and language in the Annual Review of Anthropology. Some American parents, they write, “engage in intense negotiations over sweets and desserts, which are presumed to be (and perhaps therefore become) children’s preferred foods”. In France, studies show, children are taught to critique food; in Sweden, it’s important that “all family members eat the same food” as a symbol of egalitarianism; in non-Western places such as Java, meals may offer a no-talk zone.” This quote conveys how food can serve as a conversation starter and stir up political conversation. The point I’m trying to make is food can connect to more than just culture, and can have a different significance to everyone. 

Article Sources 

-“The Hidden Significance of What We Eat”

-“Food, Self and Identity”