Chapter 1 of Belasco’s book, “Why Study Food” made me think a lot about the ways in which the food is approached as a topic of study in the academic world. Belasco suggests that food is taken for granted in academia, partly due to the fact that intellectuals tend to participate in what he refers to as a “classical dualism that prizes mind over body”. Although I myself am fascinated by food behaviours across cultures, I think that this ‘mind over body’ tendency in the academic world definitely plays a large role in discouraging topics like food from receiving lots of attention. The topic of food has definitely appeared in some UBC courses I have taken, but has been approached differently depending on the area of study. Many of the Spanish courses I have taken talked about food in a way that drew attention to its positive aspects, such as exploring the large role it plays in nourishing the human body as well as fostering and maintaining a strong sense of community and connectedness. In contrast, I took a health psychology course which also included some talk about food, but the major focus was on the harm that certain foods are capable of causing to the human body. There was also a focus on eating disorders. Interestingly, Belasco states that there may be more research that targets women’s eating disorders versus women’s positive connections to food. A study done by Kolar, Rodriquez, Chams and Hoek (2016) suggests that while the prevalence of anorexia nervosa is lower in Latin America than Western countries, the prevalence of bulimia nervosa is higher in Latin America than in Western countries. They claim that “some facets of Latin American culture might be protective for the development of anorexia nervosa and increase the risk for bulimia nervosa” (Kolar et al., 2016). It is super interesting to think about how different cultures have distinct ways of engaging with food.
Kolar, David R.; Rodriguez, Dania L. Mejía; Chams, Moises Mebarak; Hoek, Hans W. Epidemiology of eating disorders in Latin America, Current Opinion in Psychiatry: November 2016 – Volume 29 – Issue 6 – p 363-371 doi: 10.1097/YCO.0000000000000279
Hi there!
I was extremely delighted to see that a lot of my opinions matched to yours! We often look at food in academia as ways to harm our body, and never tend to see the good it brings in our lives. Furthermore, the minute we begin to study the food system being the complex concept it is, many lose interest and believe it isn’t important when it is the main reason we are alive in the first place! Also, coming from an Indian background while living in Peru, I can definitely agree with you about the fact that different cultures engage with food in contrasting ways.
Hi!
I loved how you drew concepts from the reading into discussing issues such as eating disorders, which I definitely feel are perceived a lot different when approached through the Western lens. It made me think about that section in Smith’s, Tuck and Yang’s Introduction, when they talk about how “engaging Western theory is like listening to a person who keeps trying to take a taxi cab in rush-hour traffic. They complain about getting stuck.” When talking about eating disorders we do so by exposing everything that makes it uncomfortable and unhealthy, as well as talking about the negative mental implications of having a poor relationship with your eating habits. I believe that if we were to take the Indigenous perspective into account, we could discourage eating disorders through a kinder approach, highlighting the positive aspects of food and the loving relationships that we can have with it.
Hello!
I really like how you engage with the negative ideas that are connected to food and eating along with eating disorders. I also remember from the same text how we never know where our food comes from and we try to ignore it as much as possible because it is perceived as primitive to be engaging with our food. I believe knowing our food ways, and where/how our food comes from will help us grow stronger bonds with our food. Foodways are an essential part of our lives and as the text mentions everything revolves around it from sustaining a functioning body to socializing and improving our mental health. Therefore we need to learn more and be aware of where our food comes from and it’s consequences such as it’s carbon foot-print and it’s impact on the enrionment/people.