The Anthropology of Food

Reader Contribution by David Wann
Published on January 7, 2012
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Old Perspective: Food should be fast, easy, fun, and so cheap that it’s okay to waste it. Cooking doesn’t fit these criteria because it requires concentration, “extra” time, and engagement, so processed food is superior. The origins and quality of my food are not as important as their standardized, predictable consistency.

New Perspective: Food connectsthe grower, distributor and eater with the living system that it came from, in a chain of value that begins and ends in health and well being of both land and people.

Let’s visit Homer Simpson for a few minutes as our “average American” proxy watches TV and snacks. From the research of people like Dr. Brian Wansink, author of Mindless Eating, we know Homer is thinking – in his colorfully primitive way – that if he has the chips n’ dip, he’ll also have the friends, the laughter, the adrenalin rushes, the companionship that he sees in the commercials and sitcoms. We know that unlike many Europeans and Asians – whose body wisdom directs them to stop eating when they’re full, Homer’s cue to stop will be when his beer is gone, the big bowl is empty, or the TV show is over. Homer will eat more M & Ms if they are different colors rather than just one color; more chips if they come in transparent packages so he can preview and crave them; and more fruit if it’s pre-sliced, even if it was sliced weeks ago and preserved in space-age packaging. In an age of excess, Homer forms a perception of how much food is “normal” to eat, then eats a little more because he feels he deserves it.

Unbeknownst to Homer, industry product wizards throughout the food industry strive for ultimate “snackability” that induces what one marketer, Barb Stuckey, calls “mindless munching,” in which the hand moves hypnotically back and forth between bag and mouth.These maestros of munch deliver an endless stream of products that don’t imply a portion size the way a whole apple or slice of homemade pie does, so there’s no obvious signal, or need, to stop.

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