Meal as Indicative of Cultural Norms

So, I'm working on a paper for class right now, my current proposal (which was limited to 500 words goddamnit, as a normal proposal is usually 8 pages) is pretty much finished. Still, it's a work in progress with plenty more rounds of revision to go (and I wrote this post at 1 am) so be kind in your judgement.

Paul Fieldhouse notes that “patterns of meal-taking vary widely and are a part of cultural learning;” while he says this in regard to the practice of learning the signs and practices of a participants own culture it should be noted that observation by outsiders can understand culture by the meal (63). Indeed, plenty of anthropological research has been preformed connecting food to practices of social communication and as a function of psychological, emotional, and nutritional needs. There is a lack of research on how the event of eating itself is a sphere of protected and idealized interests and ideas of a community. While food ideology and culture takes into account the methods of eating, agriculture, preparation, class, and so on that determine biological and social stimuli this paper will focus solely on the act of consumption, the meal, and its use as a keyword within cultural studies. The meal structure itself is demonstrative of the cultural practices and ideas that a society has, both conscious and unconscious. E.N. Anderson states that food is “a way of showing the world many things about the eater,” and thus, “[takes] on a role second only to language as a form of communication” (124). The round social table setting, one of equality, versus a head of table arrangement. Manners utilized in order to create social classes. How the meal in its many forms communicates the values held by different socio-economic and racial groups. This paper will dissect the keyword “meal” in cultural studies and how it’s role as a communicator of social ideas, dogmas, and realities and related through the eating event and its importance as an approach to understanding various communities.

My breakdown of the meal will consist of analyzing five aspects: food (the actual food in place and it’s importance in cultural ideology), manners (the symbolic rules of order and civilization), placement (the arrangement of the participants and space the meal will take place in), group (the participants of the meal), and dialogue (what discussion takes place between the participants). I will then analyze these five aspects of the meal and how they relate to cultural studies, discussing how they are influenced by cultural standards to create various types of meals. The primary focus will be how the various concepts of what meal is (the communal meal, solitary meal, the absence of the meal for example) works as a communicator of heritage and cultural identity. Furthermore, I plan to ascertain how some types of meals have replaced others and in reaction have created a loss of cultural identity and the passing on of traditions in action and thought. Indeed, in some cases a descent into a negative cultural sphere encouraging the rejection of the meal as a societal norm. My research will consist of reading into cultural philosophy, theory of food ideology, and the anthropology and sociology of food, with particular focuses on the theories of Paul Fieldhouse, E.N. Anderson, and Carlo Petrini.

To say it differently, how does the meal convey ideas of culture, heritage and identity? Indeed, in America we seem to glorify the meal-on-the-go mentality. Eating in the car or in the office on your own as you pound out a report is praised! You are an example of the pull-up-your-bootstraps, economically driven, succeed at all costs, capitalist mentality: working hard to make it to the top! Or does the absence of a meal define our culture? Sure, Food Network has created a new wave of foodie culture, but Vogue is still kicking it's ass as a whole. Not eating; the absence of the meal? Is that a signifier of the dominating culture? Beauty versus Nutrition. Of course, this is assuming the absence of a meal isn't due to poverty in which the meal may be demonstrative of a shoddy welfare system, or a societal idea that the poor should be ignored, that they have only themselves to blame and if they would just get with the bootstrap program mentioned before then they could eat little (but still more) alone in an office and be rich, successful, and powerful. An then there is the family meal, the business meal, and so on.

I say each of these are made up the dissected parts: manners, placement/location, food, dialogue, and participants. This could be subdivided further I'm sure but let's stay basic as possible for the purpose of brevity and my personal sanity.

Anyways, I'm going to be using the blog as a space to jot down some additional thoughts for the next 20 months or so. I am also putting it out there for people to weigh in: Do you have other ideas? Resources I should look into? Books, articles, websites?

Ah, academia. My only hope is I can parlay all of this into a book and become the next Paul Fieldhouse or Michael Pollan.

*And no, this is not my graduate thesis, this is for an 8 page paper I'm working on but plan to try and get published somewhere.