Eating is an essential activity to survive, yet it is determined by a complex group of sociocultural factors. Human groups have their own food culture, which is a combination of ideas, knowledge, beliefs, and practices which are learned and shared.
Each group has built the rules of what is to be eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner, in a special celebration or during weekdays, what food is for children and which for adults, what constitutes a snack, what is to be eaten at the movies or in a night out with friends.
Likewise, how food is eaten is defined by daily life, time and money available to prepare each meal, and the concepts behind what is considered healthy or suitable and, quite importantly, what family members enjoy and like.
About Food Culture
Food culture isn’t static; on the contrary, as societies change so do diets. Throughout history, the connections and exchange among peoples, mass media and means of transport, as well as migrations, have transformed societies and how they eat due to a process known as globalization. This process has become so intense that today in the big cities you get to eat traditional food from almost anywhere in the world.
Changes made by globalization have increased food production and distribution and it all has resulted in a more cosmopolitan food culture. The same way we can eat sushi in Mexico or a wide range of French cheese and fermented beverages as Kombucha, guacamole is now part of the food culture around the Super Bowl and Mexican Cuisine restaurants can be found in all the big capitals of the world.
However, new global risks have also arisen with the prevalence of obesity and chronic diseases, which has fostered the promotion of a healthier food culture that helps prevent health issues.
Diet and Environment
More and more people are conscious about the impact we have on the environment and so sustainable consumption has become a cultural ideal around food choices.
International organizations and environmental movements have repeatedly raised their voices regarding the risks the current food system runs. Current methods of food production, distribution and consumption are wearing down the natural resources available, something that jeopardizes today’s and tomorrow’s food security.
In the same way, it causes greenhouse effect gases that contribute to global warming and climate change. This call to action is one more regarding health alerts on food. Given the current state of things, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals set in 2015 have food as one of their core principles.
New global risks make it imperative for social actors to take action towards a food system that protects natural resources in the long run, guarantees food quality, improves life conditions of producers, prevents waste, and reduces the distance separating the producer and the consumer, among others.
Governments and institutions are aware of this issue and make real efforts to understand, from different perspectives, the current food system in order to properly channel the actions that are to be taken.
Just like food education campaigns have been put in place, nowadays it is imperative to share the importance of a conscious diet aware of the environmental costs food production has. For example, due to the high greenhouse gases emissions resulting from livestock farming, it is proposed to reduce meat consumption.
The presence of “seasonal fruits” at the supermarkets along the whole year represents an energy cost in transport since it has to be taken from faraway places, so seasonal diets are again promoted. Campaigns to reduce food waste have also been launched in an attempt to tackle energy consumption waste.
Promoting a sustainable diet is not easy, it requires a series of changes in cultural values currently present in how contemporary societies eat. Diet variety, having international food as an amusement activity, purchase of large amounts or the value given to meat as an essential element of everyday meals are some of the cultural aspects that should be changed.
As previously mentioned, food culture is not fixed, but to change it it is mandatory to identify the critical factors which determine it in different societies and recognize those in which we can act upon, set clear objectives and design more effective communication strategies.
Writen by Miriam Bertran Vilà
Reference List
Contreras, J Gracia M Alimentación y cultura. Perspectivas Antropológicas. Ed. Ariel. Barcelona, 2005
Mintz, S. Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom. Beacon Press. Boston, 1996.
Pasquier, A; Bertran, M. Alimentación, salud y sustentabilidad. Hacia una agenda de investigación. UNAM. México, 2020.