Food. The essential ingredient for life. The great equalizer. Okay, well maybe the equalizer thing was a bit dramatic. Though, in theory the fact that everyone eats should provide some common ground for the divisions that plague the American social hierarchy.
In reality, food has become one more cultural division in a world rife with separations of class, race and gender. Several blogs have recently commented on food culture (see The Sweet Life for a summary and critique of the Raw Foods Movement) or on the implications of food politics (see CommuniKATE and Edy’s Fresh Scoop for support and criticism of a San Francisco ban on Happy Meals with a Toy). In the words of Hansel, food is so hot right now.
Access to fresh, healthy foods is blocked by economic constraints, time costs, and educational barriers. Simultaneously, the explosion in popularity of celebrity chefs like Bobby Flay and Rachel Ray (she now has her own day time talk show) highlights to America’s new hobby- food. A new generation of Yuppy “foodies” write blogs about the latest $200 Sur la Table gadget while low income families sustain themselves on McDonald’s. Food snobs turn their noses up on big chain grocery stores in favor of more sustainable, locally grown, and significantly more expensive produce at Farmer’s Markets. I fully support the Farmer’s Market movement, but it kills me a little to see something so basic as food become a way for the cultural elite to mark their status.
While a food assistance programs like WIC help provide families access to healthy foods, the battle to change how America thinks about food will be an uphill battle. We have to simultaneously address incentives to change the eating habits of the most unhealthy and address the snobbery of the foodie culture.
Gee all this food talk makes me hungry. Who wants a Big Mac? Oh wait. . .
You’re comment about food snobbery is so very true. Nowadays, being “in the know” about food trends, restaurants, etc means you’re up on pop culture and of a certain social status. Some might even talk about food as they would politics- a discussion worthy among friends. The amount of food blogs out in cyber space is evidence to our growing obsession with food culture. This really goes to show you how much humans think about food and how much it’s pleasure is relished. If food wasn’t as delightful to the senses as it is, we might not have as much of a problem with obesity. Willpower is a virtue.
Interesting blog post. I somewhat agree with “food snobbery” being a bad thing as you point out. However, the way I look at this is just like any other good and/or service – those with money will be able to buy the more expensive product and those without money simply will not be able to. As you explained, however, this is different than most things because it is food, which is a necessity, not a want. I think if we look at this in realistic terms, it becomes just another good where people will be able to distinguish themselves if they would like, whether we like it or not.