The Meaning of Food 65hot illnesses are treated with cold foods. Whether a food is considered
“hot” or “cold” does not depend upon its temperature but upon the
symbolic value attached to each foodstuff, and may vary from culture
to culture.- Food as medicine, medicine as fooddescribes the separation and overlap
between food and medicine. For example, certain foods are used or
avoided during states such as pregnancy, lactation, or menstruation, and
are given to remedy problems such as diarrhea, dyspepsia, and general
ill health. - Social foodsdescribes the social function of food. Food can be under-
stood in terms of affirming and developing relationships; symbolizing
status by offering rare, expensive, or delicious dishes; and creating group
identity through traditional food patterns such as breakfast, lunch, and
dinner, or through traditional food types such as “the national dish” or
“the family meal.”
Work from this perspective argues that all foods can be understood using
this framework, which provides insights into the function and role of food
within any given culture. Some writers have criticized the search for a deep
underlying structure to food and have suggested that this approach
neglects the capacity of food meanings to vary across cultures and time.
The alternative analysis is that food should be regarded as the medium
through which a range of meanings are communicated. For example, in
the same way that different jeans can be “read” by adolescents but not
by their parents, and interior design can be understood by adults but not
by children, food is embedded with meanings within a specific time and
space. Some studies have focused on the meanings of individual foods.
For example, Wilson (1973) argued that tomatoes were thought to be
dangerous and were largely avoided in England until the later eighteenth
century, Mintz (1985) pointed to how sugar was originally seen as a medicine
rather than a food, and Barthes (1961) illustrated how sweet foods,
particularly chocolate, and bitter foods symbolize the difference between
the working and upper classes. Most research, however, has emphasized
eating as a communicative act and explored the meanings that food can
communicate. In particular, food communicates a sense of self, it acts as
a medium of communication between individuals, and it is central to
the establishment of a cultural identity. These meanings are illustrated in
figure 4.1.