You Are What You Eat: Exploring Food & Identity

Food is a pretty integral part of everyone’s life.  This is a cross cultural phenomenon based in biology and culture.  Humans need food to survive, and there are various different ways of acquiring food (as discussed in this, that, and another post).  These aspects of food are pretty well known, but what is still important but not as well discussed is how food provides us insights into a person’s identity, which is the topic of this blog post.  An in-depth discussion of food representing gender, national, regional, and social status identities will be explored here.

Figure 1: Sex and the City was a television show that popularized the Cosmopolitan among women

Gender is defined as the cultural meanings attached to one’s biological sex, and these meanings are culturally contrived and varied.  Part of these meanings are attached to food, particularly what is appropriate for each gender to eat and drink.  In American society is more acceptable for women to eat salads and drink fruity alcoholic beverages than men, whereas there is an expectation among men to eat meats and drink beer.  This expectation is very much promoted in our popular culture and visible in commercials and television shows (Figure 1).

Nationality, or one’s citizenship, is also evident in food.  There is nothing more American than apple pie is what many of that nationality say, while kimchi is widely associated with Koreans (Figure 2).  This same logic applies to all sorts of cultures, such as Canadians with poutine, Germans with bratwurst, and curry with Indians.  Regional variations in cuisine also apply.  For example, popular Midwest American dishes include toasted ravioli for St. Louis (Figure 3) and deep dish pizza for Chicago, which is why many different restaurants refer to their deep dish pizzas as “Chicago style” pizza.  

Figure 2: Kimchi is a diagnostic Asian food most often associated with Koreans

 

Last but not least when it comes to food and identity are the foods associated with social status.  There are definitely foods that one identifies as being associated with the rich (e.g. caviar and foie gras) and those associated with the poor (e.g. Ramen noodles and Spam).  These distinctions go so far as to affect the price of these items, as well as cultural attitudes of individuals both within and outside of those social status groups.  Members of these groups may elect to eat these items despite a personal distaste for them simply to reaffirm their identity.

In conclusion, you are ultimately what you eat, both biologically and culturally.  Food very much can be an identifier of one’s livelihood, geography, or gender.  Consider how many times you may have passed judgement on someone’s identity based on what they eat, and it becomes quite clear that food really is part of our cultural identities.

Figure 3: Toasted Ravioli is a St. Louis favorite

 

References

Welsch, R.L. & L.A. Vivanco.  (2015).  Cultural Anthropology: Asking Questions About Humanity.  Oxford University Press.