The social anthropology of food and eating displays considerablediversity in theoretical approach, research strategy and substantivefocus. Raises the question of whether this form…
Abstract
The social anthropology of food and eating displays considerable diversity in theoretical approach, research strategy and substantive focus. Raises the question of whether this form of diversity is located within the discipline or whether it results from drawing on work from other disciplines. Compares selected works in social anthropology with works in sociology, a relative newcomer to the field. Reviews three “matched” pairs of studies; two each investigating attitudes between dietary complexity and socio‐economic aspects, two on gender and drink, both alcoholic and non‐alcoholic, and two on cuisines in comparative cultural and historical perspective. Proposes that the study of food and eating is an especially appropriate arena in which to develop systematically a more considerable cross‐disciplinary fertilization.
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‘Everybody knows’ that women do the cooking. It was the Princess not the Prince of Wales who was asked in their eve of wedding TV interview whether she was a good cook, and it is…
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‘Everybody knows’ that women do the cooking. It was the Princess not the Prince of Wales who was asked in their eve of wedding TV interview whether she was a good cook, and it is Mrs Thatcher who is reported to cook breakfast for Mr Thatcher every morning. Even wives well enough placed to be able to leave it to someone else are still cast in the role of cook. As a result, the food industry's advertising is aimed at women, so too is much nutrition education, and studies of levels of nutritional knowledge are inclined to focus on ‘the housewife’. These rest on the supposition that if women are in charge of the cooking they also must determine the family diet. Indeed, earlier this year the Director of the US National Institute on Ageing, when describing measures increasing longevity and good health observed, ‘the biggest contribution a wife can make, if she's the one who prepares the food, is that she can have a great deal of control over food intake’. But does being responsible for cooking at home really mean that women also have control over family eating, the choice of menu, the timing of meals? My own research examining the sociological significance of food related beliefs suggests that the position is not so straightforward.
Stewed octopus on holiday in Greece, carrot sweets at the local Indian restaurant, termite delicacies in Africa on a TV documentary — in increasingly cosmopolitan Britain the more…
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Stewed octopus on holiday in Greece, carrot sweets at the local Indian restaurant, termite delicacies in Africa on a TV documentary — in increasingly cosmopolitan Britain the more exotic differences in food habits are becoming just as familiar as the well known Lancashire hotpot or Welsh cakes of the regions, and chips and pickled onions or champagne and caviare of opposite ends of the social scale. We are left in no doubt that there are tremendous cultural variations in eating patterns. But what are we to make of these differences? Are they merely a matter of ‘taste’, chance and preference? Or can they tell us more about ourselves and our lives?
“The nation’s diet” is a six‐year basic social science programme funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council, consisting of 16 projects located in universities across…
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“The nation’s diet” is a six‐year basic social science programme funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council, consisting of 16 projects located in universities across England, Scotland and Wales. Explains the overall purpose of this multi‐disciplinary programme in social scientific terms as the examination of the processes affecting human food choice. The programme’s central concern ‐ “why do people eat what they do?” ‐ is amenable to study using a variety of social scientific research approaches, designs and techniques of data collection and analysis. Illustrates this methodological variety selectively in reporting a few of the programme’s early results from three of its projects. The findings confirm that people eat what they do for a multiplicity of reasons in addition to, and sometimes in conflict with, hunger, properties of the food itself or people’s own valuation of health and nutrition.
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In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of…
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In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.
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Sidse Schoubye Andersen and Lotte Holm
This paper aims to present an analysis of the various dimensions of naturalness that shape the consumption practices of parents with young children.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present an analysis of the various dimensions of naturalness that shape the consumption practices of parents with young children.
Design/methodology/approach
The study builds on semi-structured interviews with 17 mothers and fathers focusing on parental decision-making in everyday consumption from pregnancy to the first years of the child’s life.
Findings
Naturalness is a tool allowing parents to navigate in a world of risks and part of an everyday consumption practice that constructs and maintains children as vulnerable and parents as responsible. Parents perceive naturalness as something with three dimensions: familiarity, purity and culture. These three dimensions lead to different parental practices around consumption.
Originality/value
The analysis contributes to the authors’ understanding of parenting, childhood, risk, safety and consumption by showing how and why parents of young children construct naturalness as a three-dimensional ideal in their consumption practices.
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Reports research findings on the gendered character of the eating out experience, from a study of eating out in England. Investigates two main areas: food tastes and authority…
Abstract
Reports research findings on the gendered character of the eating out experience, from a study of eating out in England. Investigates two main areas: food tastes and authority relations within consumer groups. Describes how gender differences in food tastes when eating out are subtle. Shows that food tastes alter according to where the eating is done; food preferences and choices differ when people eat out as opposed to when they eat in. These trends are similar for men and women. Further investigates aspects of eating out decision taking and shows that gendered conduct does exist, but the extent of it varies depending on the composition of the company.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the routine, everyday experiences and attitudes people bring to cooking and eating and aims to compare the significance of such culinary…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the routine, everyday experiences and attitudes people bring to cooking and eating and aims to compare the significance of such culinary cultures to diets in France and Britain.
Design/methodology/approach
The initial phase of this qualitative, comparative research involved in-depth interviews with 13 French and 14 British citizens who were each asked to reflect upon foods eaten in the home, preparation methods and issues surrounding dietary practices and culinary cultures. The next phase of the research asked “experts” working within the field to reflect and elaborate upon the initial findings and in total ten French and nine British “experts” were interviewed.
Findings
The results reveal how to a greater extent French respondents relied upon raw ingredients from which they more regularly prepared “traditional”, structured and commensal meal occasions. Such a food model remains a significant part of everyday life and culinary cultures in France support the consumption of a relatively healthy diet unlike in Britain.
Research limitations/implications
This is a small exploratory study based on a limited number of respondents. Further research would benefit from observing what people actually do rather than relying on what people say they do.
Practical implications
Those responsible for promoting healthier diets need to further prioritise the significance of culinary cultures to cooking practices and diet.
Originality/value
While the influence of domestic cooking practices on food intake has received some scholarly attention, this paper presents a more holistic insight into how culinary cultures can play a significant mediating role on diets more generally.
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The marginalisation of council housing in Britain since the Housing Act of 1980 threatens to obscure some of the very valuable lessons to be learned from almost a century of mass…
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The marginalisation of council housing in Britain since the Housing Act of 1980 threatens to obscure some of the very valuable lessons to be learned from almost a century of mass public housing provision. This chapter demonstrates that despite considerable economic problems, and in the face of social change since 1980, a relatively poor council estate remained a site of social capital, and that women were particularly prominent in working with local agencies to solve problems.
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There is no argument among serious researchers that a mongoloid stock first colonized the New World from Asia. Nor is there controversy about the fact that these continental…
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There is no argument among serious researchers that a mongoloid stock first colonized the New World from Asia. Nor is there controversy about the fact that these continental pioneers used the Bering Land Bridge that then connected the Asian Far East with Alaska.– Gerald F. Shields, et al.American Journal of Genetics (1992)