Role of Food in Construction of Social Identity

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Food is a highly unique commodity, for though it is essential to every single person on earth, there is no other commodity which is acquired and consumed in such diverse ways. It is a multifaceted social instrument, serving to connect people across cultural boundaries while simultaneously drawing lines through society, dividing people across race and class. Though we have discussed the connections between certain alternative food movements and the creation of a ‘white’ identity, I contend that the social mechanisms of food extend beyond the production of ‘whiteness’, and are intricately bound up in the creation and perpetuation of other racial and class identities in Western society. As the ways in which we consume and engage with food can be a performance of a cultural identity, employed as a representative of certain social ideologies, in this sense it is often used by the white middle class to distinguish between races and classes, drawing the line between those who share their ‘worldview’ and those who don’t. However, what allows this distinction to exist is obliviousness to the social and racial barriers which create and enforce the differences in interactions with food.

The human relationship with food is highly multifaceted, and complexly connected to racial and class identities. This becomes particularly apparent when examining the production of the ‘white’ middle class identity, whereby food choices often serve to draw boundaries between the self and ‘others’. Even in a situation where the middle class consumer may feel as though they are drawing bridges across cultures in consuming food that ‘belongs’ to ‘others’, this view holds an inherent divide between the two. The perception of what constitutes a cultu...

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...us populations are necessary to address the issues of social sustainability in the food system and stop the exclusionary practice of social identity construction through food.

Works Cited

Galvez et al. 2007. Childhood Obesity and Neighborhood Food Store Availability in an Inner City Community. Web. 3 April 2015.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2770899/

Guthman J. 2003. Fast food/organic food: reflexive tastes and the making of 'yuppie chow'. Social & Cultural Geography 4:45-58.

Reisch, Lucia. 2003. Sustainable food consumption: an overview of contemporary issues and policies. Web. 3 April 2015.

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Slocum, Rachel. 2010. Geographies of Race and Food: An Introduction. Web. 3 April 2015.

https://www.ashgate.com/pdf/SamplePages/Geographies-of-Race-and-Food-Intro.pdf

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