Summary Of Mary Douglas Deciphering A Meal

Food, a necessary component for all living things. No matter the creature. Even plants need food, although they tend to create their own through photosynthesis. We, as humans, make a bigger deal out of it than most creatures on this planet. We have created places designated to buy food, places to go where people make food for you; we even have spaces in our houses dedicated entirely to the creation and consumption of food. There are even holidays completely dedicated to food, such as Thanksgiving or Ramadan. Sometimes there are even set rules as to when, where and how you can consume meals. It’s something that we are not able to live without. Food is an unavoidable substance that plays a large role in cultures in many different ways. The reading “Deciphering a Meal” by Mary Douglas, mostly covered the fact that certain religions consider some animals unfit or ‘too unclean’ to be eaten.
Some ate from their heritage often and others hardly did. This most likely can connect back to how willing they are to associate with their culture as we discussed in class. One friend constantly converses with me about his Mexican background, and this showed when I asked what foods they ate based on their heritage. They usually ate from this background quite often. While another didn’t even quite remember what background they hailed from. “Heritage, what heritage? My family doesn’t have culture.”—a laugh— “My family is super white and we don’t do anything special. Every once in a while, we’ll have green corned beef for St. Patrick’s Day cause I’m Irish.”
Everyone also decided that they would be completely fine with someone eating a food they wouldn’t ever want to try. Some would be curious as to why or what the food tasted like, but everyone had the same mentality. They just wouldn’t care, seeing as they weren’t the ones who would have to eat it. Their food, their