Food and culture essay examples

According to the author of the book ‘ Everyone Eats’, food ways also change with time, although the change is usually slow. The author has cited several factors that drive change in foodways, namely environment, health, economics, family and work dynamics, politics, religion, style and permanent taste change. He believes that necessity or economic pressures have most often driven changes, not taste. This explains the gradual shift of many nations towards consumption of coarse, inferior and nutrition-poor rations.
But there are also cases where surface changes have led to change in foodways, eventually. These changes are usually cultural – voluntary and socially constructed. For example, the author considers the rise of Pizza as a consequence of the new generation’s need for a more adventurous life. Rising health concerns sometimes of a superficial nature such as the societal pressure to remain thin, have led to increased consumption of healthier foods such as breakfast cereal, frozen orange juice, non- fat milk, yogurt, and whole-grain products. The current state of the production of Bread is a result of centuries of migration, development of appliances and a shift towards food being prepared by professionals such as bakers.
However, the same reasons that drive change may also lead to resistance to change. Sometimes changes in foodways may be slowed down by tradition. Turkeys, easter eggs and apple pies are still eaten on important festivals in the Christian world. Although these customs are still alive owing to their traditional value, they have no doubt undergone a change in form owing to lifestyle changes. For example, Thanksgiving pies today have degraded in quality as they are bought from the market rather than painstakingly prepared at home. Attachment to tradition contributes to sluggishness of the change in foodways, but cannot prevent it.
An extreme example of the resistance to change in foodways is the case of the ‘ longue durée’, the long term in the Mediterranean world. Specifically in Andalucía, although the Arab immigrants introduced certain minor new foods, and potatoes and tomatoes from the ‘ New World’ have become popular, the basic diet still remains the same consisting of bread, wine, oil, and meat as staples. In this case, owing to the unfavorable political climate, the people have grown to dislike change. As a result, even after centuries, very little has changed in their agricultural practices, and consequently their diet.
Thus, foodways have undergone several changes over centuries. Foodways are attached to people’s personal identity, lifestyle and health and no doubt, these reasons have contributed to sluggishness in change as opposed to the fast paced surface changes that drive the change in foodways.

Works Cited

Anderson, E. N. Everyone Eats: Understanding Food and Culture. New York: NYU Press, 2005.