Food as Status

“Social class differences in food consumption refers to how the quantity and

quality of food varies according to a person’s social status or position in the social

hierarchy – eating behavior is a highly affiliative act, thus the food one eats is closely

tied with one’s social class throughout history.” Wikipedia

If we’re to talk about status, status is “the relative social, professional, or other

standing of someone or something” Google.

Scholars have highlighted how meals can be used to mark boundaries and

reproduce inequalities. The role of food in family relationships, some people who stand

much more better in society tend to be capable on travelling to far-away cities and

countries that allow them to gain knowledge of global, national and regional cuisines

such as Gourmet, which is a cultural ideas associated with the culinary arts of fine food

and drink, which is characterized by refined, even elaborate preparations and

presentations of aesthetically balanced meals, which obviously can afford by some

people who belongs to high social class. While in the other hand, some lower class

people can only eat what they can afford, they cannot spend too much money for one

set of high priced meals that is almost equivalent to the cost of their foods for weeks.

This clearly differentiate the boundaries and gap between upper and lower class people.

With the use of food we can also identify which country or nationality a person is.

Different nationality, different country, has different taste when it comes to food.

Example Asian cuisines tend to use opposing flavors like sweet and sour, spicy and chili

and etc. while Spanish food widely use olive oils, wines and other high end ingredients

and condiments.
 Nowadays where social media is at trend, billions of people are now into

“Foodtoraphy” where its seems somehow required to take a picture of the food they are

about to eat before they actually eat them, in able to have something to post on different

social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and etc. with just simply

browsing at someone’s social media account, we can easily say how they stand in the

society, their food consumption, eating behavior and taste for food shouts their status.

Food as Pleasure

Food and pleasure “The pleasure of food is the sensation of well-being that

derives from the fulfillment of a natural instinct, which involves physical and

psychological tension created by the initial desire and inner need”. Encyclopedia.com

Does food really gives pleasure? From an article I saw on the internet, there’s a

quoted word there about pleasure that says “Our brains are wired to register pleasure

when we have experiences that we need to repeat in order to survive”. Well then if food

does not provide pleasure in an individual, people would have died out. Because no one

will have little motivation to put up something in their stomach, but that is not what we

see today; a lot of people quoted themselves as “Food Lovers” and so chefs and

restaurants are into challenge of continuous experimenting and innovation of foods. If

food does not give pleasure to oneself, we will not love them. If someone says food

supposed to be just a fuel, I beg to disagree.

In today’s modern environment, people are having so much responsibility and

eating good food makes them feel relaxed, and it gives them joy and pleasure. Some

people most likely to have the task food combination, where when they are about to do
an important matter like school works, job task, and many different electronic, physical

and paper works, they tend to have something besides them that they can chew that

somehow helps them and their brain to keep on working, this way they feel the pleasure

and motivation to keep on their task and finish it down.

If you were to ask what makes food pleasurable? Its taste of course, but not just

that, also its texture, substance, and the flavors you’ll feel melting inside your mouth that

makes you feel hungry for more. Pleasure is felt whenever we are satisfied. Satisfaction

when it comes to hunger means “eating enough to abate hunger”. Getting no pleasure

from a meal either means you didn’t like it, or because you were distracted that you

didn’t noticed you ate it already, this way you may feel unsatisfied and tend to feel you

need to find something else to eat even you’re not hungry anymore. It is because being

satisfied and happy with what you eat gives you pleasure. And so food is pleasure.

References:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Cclass_differences_in_food_consumption

https://www.encyclopedia.com/food/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-
maps/pleasure-and-food