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6. Food and Class
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chapter 6 Food and Class The social connotations of food are perhaps the most powerful determinant of dietary preferences. This is especially the case in a nutritional theory whose basis entails the literal incorporation of a food’s substance and qualities into the consumer. An item considered gross and crude and associated with the peasantry will render the consumer peasant-like because those same elements that make up the peasant will be absorbed by the consumer. To a courtier, magnificent banquet dishes not only signify wealth, power, and sophistication but transfer those properties directly into the individual diner. An exquisite dish makes the eater exquisite . Thus, the ideal self-image as socially constructed is directly re- flected in food prejudices that involve class. To be a true courtier, one must eat as courtiers do. And distance from the courtier’s lifestyle is best achieved by choosing a different diet. In societies that are not rigidly hierarchical, such food prejudices are usually not highly defined. A distinction between eating habits or food styles will only develop in those societies in which individuals or groups feel the need to be delineated or have distinctions imposed upon them. For example, in the Hindu caste system not only separate diets but even whom one may eat with and have one’s food prepared by are codified by religious law. In the most extremely stratified societies, foods have powerful social connotations, and crossing the social boundaries in any way threatens the natural order and violates the defining principles of personhood . Individuals can be unnaturally ennobled or debased by eating 184 Food and Class 185 1. Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction, trans. Richard Nice (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1984; Flandrin, “Distinction through Taste.” 2. Jack Goody, Cooking, Cuisine, and Class: A Study in Comparative Sociology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), chap. 4. outside the borders of class. Working in tandem with these food associations may also be distinctions in dress, speech patterns or language, modes of behavior, entertainment, and so forth. All serve to rigorously demarcate boundaries between social classes, but none is more central to self-definition than the food that becomes one’s flesh.1 As a rule, the more stratified a society becomes, the more complex and rigid are the alimentary symbols of class. Illustrating this point, Jack Goody has compared African to European and Asian cultures. Little division of labor, little specialization, and few social distinctions characterize the former. African economies of the past were able to support few separate classes apart from food producers and rulers. Consequently, their food habits and ideas about food had practically no social meanings . Most people ate the same foods. There were no classes or castes to be distinguished on the basis of diet. European and Asian societies, on the other hand, became stratified at an early date. Production, distribution , and consumption were divided, and a greater number of distinct classes could be supported in the economy.2 Holy men, merchants, professionals , all sought to be differentiated from each other, and diet became one of the most powerful delineators of class. For example, scholars would have been able to earn money and buy food rather than grow it themselves. This would have only been possible if other members of society had disposable income to support such activities, either directly, purchased as a commodity, or indirectly, supported by taxes. With their literacy, this group may have developed, with sufficient numbers, a group consciousness that was expressed in distinct clothes, speech, behavior , and importantly, diet. In India, China, and Europe this was the case. Not only did courtly cuisines develop, but scholarly diets evolved distinct from those of both the ruling class and the multitudes. The more complex the economy, therefore, the further stratified the society and the more distinct the eating styles or philosophies. Food prejudices are thus a barometer of social differentiation, and the proliferation of distinct food styles is a sign of growing complexity and also of anxiety over the shifting shape of the social structure. That is, the social meaning of food grows in intensity when the class structure is in danger of disruption by social mobility. It is no coincidence that dietary regimens gain popularity in those complex, changing, and dynamic [3.229.122.112] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 02:02 GMT) 186 Food and Class 3. Pertinent for the High Middle Ages is Bruno Laurioux, “Table et hiérarchie sociale à la fin du...