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Food, Self and Identity

DOI:10.1177/053901888027002005
Authors:
Claude Fischler at French National Centre for Scientific Research and Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
Claude Fischler
  • French National Centre for Scientific Research and Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
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Abstract

Discusses the relationship of food to identity formation, arguing that it combines 2 different dimensions, 1 of which runs from the biological to the cultural (i.e., the nutritional function to the symbolic function), while the other links the individual to the collective (i.e., the psychological to the social). Two aspects of the human relationship to food are stressed: the omnivorous nature of man and its multiple implications, and the process of incorporation and its associated representations. It is argued that omnivorousness implies a fundamental ambivalence and that "you are what you eat" not only organically, but in terms of beliefs and representations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Social Science
DOI: 10.1177/053901888027002005
1988; 27; 275 Social Science Information
Claude Fischler
Food, self and identity
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