Food and Culture 7e Pamela Goyan Kittler, Kathryn Sucher, Marcia Nahikian
Nelms (Instructor's Manual All Chapters, 100% Original Verified, A+ Grade)
Instructor’s Manual for Food and Culture 7e
Chapter 1: Food and Culture
Learning Objectives
1. List the fastest growing ethnic groups in the United States.
2. Define the “omnivore’s paradox.”
3. State the various symbolic meanings that can be assigned to food.
4. Discuss food choices as cultural identity.
5. Define etiquette and manners.
6. Distinguish among acculturation, enculturation, and assimilation.
7. List the components of the core and complementary foods model.
8. Define what is meant by flavor principles.
9. List the components of the developmental perspective of food culture.
Chapter Summary
America continues to be a changing demographic. Defining “American food” and resolving the question
“What is an American diet?” elude simple answers. The population of America includes immigrants from
Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, China, and other Asian countries representing more than
seventy-five different ancestry groups as reported in 2007. In that year, the fastest and largest growing
ethnic groups in America were from Latin America, but more recently Asians became the fastest growing
race or ethnic group. Each American ethnic, religious, or regional group has its own culturally based food
habits. The new immigrants interact with the overlying American culture—with each changing the other.
Food is any substance that provides the nutrients necessary to maintain life and growth when ingested.
But humans eat meals, and we have developed culturally significant ways of using these foods in cooking
and other cultural practices. These food habits become defined and codified within a culture. Food habits
constitute all the ways in which humans use food—including everything from how it is selected,
obtained, and distributed to who prepares it, serves it, and eats it, to how it is shared and consumed.
“The omnivore’s paradox” refers to the instinct in humans to experiment with and sample new foods that
occurs alongside a need for caution and a preference for the familiar and safe. The ability to use a wide
range of edible foods from all of the climates of the world gives us an advantage as a species. We also
maintain food choices within a culture through ritual and repetition. This conservative approach may
help us to avoid poisoning ourselves on new, toxic foods through communal caution.
Food can also be used as a form of self-identity. What foods we eat have a special significance because
eating involves a personal reflection of who we are. We assign characteristics to people who eat in certain
ways. We tend to rate foods as being “good” or “bad” and often assign moral implications to food
choices. We adopt the same food preferences as the trusted or valued others within our group. We
demonstrate belongingness, status, and self-realization through food choices based on what we have
learned from our culture.
Food also has symbolic meanings based on association with other meaningful experiences. For example,
bread can have a variety of meanings: bread as the staff of life, breaking bread with friends, white bread
indicating upper class status, whole-wheat bread reflecting health as a value. These symbolic meanings
are associated with a cultural identity. It is the symbolic use of a food that is valued most by people, not
its nutritional value. Some food choices are based on group affiliation—for example, not eating pork as
part of religious affiliation. Other symbolic meanings are learned in childhood when we form associations
that lead to relying on certain food choices as “comfort food.” Diet may also help identify persons who
are not a member of a certain group or be the basis for food stereotyping.
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,Manners and etiquette are examples of having an “appropriate use of food” as defined by our cultural
affiliation. Manners vary between eating at home and in public or dining in a business situation. Cultures
vary regarding how food is shared and how food relates to status and establishing class relationships.
“Culture” is the values, beliefs, attitudes, and practices accepted by members of a group or community.
Culture is learned—not inherited. “Enculturation” is the process by which culturally specific language
and socialization practices are passed from generation to generation. “Ethnicity” is the term for a cultural
and social identity that includes shared behaviors, food habits, dress, language, family structure, and
often includes a religious affiliation with a common history or location.
Acculturation is a dynamic process by which an ethnic group moves into a new majority society and
begins adopting the new society’s values and habits. An individual becomes “bicultural” when the new
culture is seen as a complement to the original culture of origin. “Assimilation” is the process by which
people from one cultural group shed their ethnic identity and fully merge into the majority culture. The
term “ethnocentric” refers to a person using his or her own values to evaluate the behavior of others,
regarding his or her own culture as superior to others.
As we look at how different cultural groups categorize foods, we can better understand the process of
assigning values to food. In America, we use five food groups (as in the MyPlate icon) to demonstrate the
value of science and nutritional content. Numerous models are used to identify and understand the role
of food within a culture.
Another model identifies some foods as “core foods”: staples eaten on a daily basis. Secondary foods are
widely eaten but not daily. Peripheral foods are eaten only now and then and are more characteristic of
individual preference rather than cultural habit. One hypothesis suggests the pairing of core and
secondary foods serves to provide adequate nutritional balance.
“Flavor principles” are the signature flavors that are associated with food preparation within a culture.
Central to a cultural cuisine are the combinations of foods and the significance of flavor. Flavor is
imparted by geography and climate but primarily by preparation methods and seasoning. Listed in the
text are many very specific flavor principles associated with individual cultures.
We also look at the meal patterns and meal cycles within a culture to analyze daily, weekly, and yearly
use of food. Decoding these patterns and cycles begins by understanding how different cultures
distinguish a “meal” from a “snack” and how “correct” sequencing within a meal is dictated. Other
cultural practices determine who serves the meal, what eating utensils are used, and how much is
appropriate to eat at what time.
The developmental perspective of food culture suggests how social dynamics are paralleled by global
trends in food, eating, and nutrition. With globalization comes food consumerization. Modernization and
technological advances lead to food commoditization. As populations become more urban, the previous
connections are broken between what food is produced locally and what is eaten in that region. As
populations migrate, food habits are in flux, as part of acculturation.
Personal preferences are influenced by food availability. Personal choices also identify what is edible or
inedible, which is one of the earliest ways to describe diet. “Diet” is what a culture regards as what can be
eaten and what cannot or should not be eaten. The consumer food choice model includes many
interrelated factors influencing how and why an individual makes a food selection at a given time. Taste
is an important consideration as well as cost, convenience, self-expression, self identity, gender,
advertising, life stage, state of health, and variety.
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,In a multicultural environment, it is imperative that we understand the relationships between ethnic food
choices and ethnic health disparities. Research results regarding the effects of ethnicity and race on health
status can be misleading if other factors such as acculturation and socioeconomic status are not
sufficiently separated. Ethnicity can be a significant factor in how certain diseases are developed,
experienced, and ultimately resolved. There are differences in rates of disease and death in cultural
groups.
The United States of America is better described as a “tossed salad” rather than a melting pot—different
ingredients each still present but in a delicious, complementary blend. The American omnivore’s paradox
may be an even more accurate description. Because we live in a country settled by immigrants, perhaps
we have a propensity towards variety and trying new cuisines. Yet we also have a drive towards keeping
our original cultural food traditions intact.
Chapter Outline
I. What Do Americans Eat?
A. America is a changing demographic—and has always been so
1. Defining “American food” and resolving “Who is an American?”: there is no simple answer
a. U.S. Census and other demographic data show that close to 40 percent of Americans are
not white, 13 percent are foreign born, 11 percent have one parent who was foreign born,
and one in five people in the United States are first or second generation; > 75 ancestries
reported in 2007
b. Latin Americans were the fastest and largest growing ethnic groups in U.S. in 2007, but
more recently Asian became the fastest growing race or ethnic group
2. Each American ethnic, religious, or regional group has its own culturally based food habits
a. Interaction between new immigrants and overlying American culture
b. Each changes the other
II. What Is Food?
A. Food: any substance that provides the nutrients necessary to maintain life and growth when
ingested
1. We raise crops and livestock, leading to consistent supply of similar foods
2. We use these foods in cooking and other culturally specific ways
a. Examples: meals, rules on utensils, manners, sharing of food
b. Food habits = food culture = food ways: the multiplicity of ways in which humans use
food
B. The Omnivore’s Paradox
1. We are a flexible but cautious species; attraction to new but preference for familiar
2. Need to experiment combined with need for conservatism
3. Conserve safe food choices within a culture through ritual and repletion
C. Self-Identity
1. Consumption of food means a personal incorporation → personal reflection of who we are
a. Not only physical but associative; “you are what you eat”
b. We assign characteristics to people who eat in certain ways; Vegetarians are considered
pacifists and likely to drive foreign cars
c. Foods rated as being “good” or “bad” contain a moral implication
2. We learn food preferences from trusted or valued others (peers, teachers, valued social
groups)
a. Dining out is a good demonstration of how food may reflect belongingness, status, and
self-realization
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license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.
, b.
Examples: Japanese restaurants provide a venue for the host to entertain in a personal
manner; trendiest restaurant can convey high status; the ethnic restaurant conveys
authenticity
3. These meanings are culturally dependant
D. Symbolic Use of Food
1. Meanings from relationship, association, or convention—not nutrient content
2. Example: associations with bread: staff of life, breaking bread with friends, white bread as
upper class status, whole wheat as valuing health
E. Cultural Identity: A collective identity with food habits associated with religious beliefs or ethnic
behaviors
1. Example: not eating pork as part of religious affiliation in Muslim or Jewish faith
2. Special worth of foods built up from childhood associated with security or good memories –
“comfort foods”
3. Exclusion from group: cultural slurs often are the name of food identified with a group
4. Food Etiquette: appropriate use of food
a. Defined by our cultural affiliation
b. Manners at home versus those used in public or in a business situation
5. Food symbolism defines status
a. Champagne, Kobe beef, and truffles suggest wealth
b. Beans and potatoes are traditionally associated with the poor
5. Commensalism (who can dine together) regulated within cultures
a. Relates to status issues and establishing class relationships
b. Example: men eating separate from women, servants from employers, castes in India
III. What Is Culture?
A. Culture: values, beliefs, attitudes, and practices accepted by members of a group or community
1. Learned not inherited
2. Enculturation: the process by which culturally specific language and socialization uses are
passed from generation to generation
3. When a group is isolated by geography or other factors cultural behavior patterns are
reinforced
4. Changes over time
5. Ethnicity: the term for cultural membership, a social identity
a. Shared behaviors, food habits, dress, language, family structure, often religious affiliation
b. Common history or location
c. Intra-ethnic variations
B. The Acculturation Process
1. Acculturation is process by which an ethnic group moves into another new majority society
and begins to adopt the new society’s cultural values and habits
a. Fluid continuum, dynamic between traditional practices and behaviors
b. Adopt some values while maintaining old ties of friendship and family
2. Immigrants become bicultural when new majority culture is seen as a complement to the
original culture of origin
3. Assimilation: people from one cultural group shed their ethnic identity and fully merge into
the majority culture
a. Not usual for first generation; more typical of later generations
4. Ethnocentric: person uses his or her own values to evaluate the behavior of others while
regarding own culture as superior to others
C. Acculturation of Food Habits
1. Food habits are one of the last traditions to change during the process of acculturation
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license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.
