Sociology of Food Essay

I had never actually given thought to what I ate, who I ate with, and where I ate, till now. I understood that eating was a need henceforth not thought about. The food log assignment has actually open the topic of eating and allowed me to have a different perspective of my eating habits.
Food is a form of survival. However it also bring about with it; habits, rituals, and characteristics to its consumers. Before reading Belasco I took eating for granted. I now have begun to see how much food actually does affect our past, present, and our future. The theory of the Food Triangle that Belasco discusses in his book tries to simplify this phenomenon of “food.” Although simple in form the triangle holds a great weight in meaning. The realization that came to me while reading the chapters and also viewing the hunger planet photo essay, is that I am more a part of the convenience corner of the food triangle. I think this is because of the American culture that I have grown up in. I state this because of the common ideal that “time is money” which is persistent in our culture. By writing the food log I saw that I seem to always be eating on the go. Whether I stop to get drive thru McDonalds or bring my food with me I am constantly eating alone. This is convenient for me since I have school, work, and a family to balance and eating on the go allows me handle all my responsibilities as a student, an employee, as well as a mother. This may show that we are moving away from the trend of sitting down for meals or even making food part of a social event.
The triangle however allows a person or a group to be a part of any combination of the three corners of the triangle which include the responsibility and identity corner as well as the convenience corner. For example for myself I may say I am part of the convenience corner but when it comes to feeding my children I definitely partake in the other two corners. When my schedule allows me to cook for my children the cooking involves more ethnic Salvadoran foods. I also try to include healthier foods such as vegetables and fruits. I may eat fast foods but I hardly ever feed it to my children. This puts me in both the identity corner and responsibility corner of the triangle, since I want my children to taste foods from their heritage as well as try to improve their health by eating better foods.
Belasco´s reference that culture is depicted by a cuisine also triggered my interest. Farb and Armelagos comparison between cuisine to a culture’s language states that cuisine like communication is a communication system that’s inherited form birth and will always be a part of that person even if the travel elsewhere. I agree to this point of view but also believe that people adapt to their surroundings. As Dr. Grigorian stated in class food culture is not stagnant we are always evolving and there for our methods of food consumption have changed to. As a first generation Salvadoran-American I have become accustomed to both my heritage foods but the food culture of the U.S. is also a major part of my life. Although it may be a belief that America cannot have a culture because we have no set ¨cuisine¨ I would to tend to disagree because throughout the world the “American culture” is seen. For example in many of the photographs in, the Times article, Hungry Planet many American items are seen in the pictures, such as Coke. I believe this also helps my idea that the convenience corner of the food triangle comes more into play. I believe the ideology of time is expanding and prepackaged foods are just another way to save time. However not everyone is seen with prepackaged items. This may relate to economic factors and it may be more convenient for some people to use what’s readily available to them rather than to have to travel to acquire the prepackaged items. I do believe that Identity plays a big role of why some communities (cultures) may not use prepackaged items but then again availability of these items might be a greater issue.
All in all, the convenience corner seems to be where I stand but that may be because of the culture that I am part of. Identity has a role in my eating habits but honestly the responsibility corner is not something I actually give much thought too. It seems maybe because of where I live that the world around me has about the same connection to the food triangle.