Social Functions of Food: Food as Reward and Punishment

It is 3 am and I've just finished the first draft of my research paper, "Food, Culture, and Art". I came across this interesting excerpt by anthropologist, Margaret Mead: "Resistance and acceptance of food are thought of in terms of morality. People feel that they ought to eat correctly, or, more concretely 'It's wrong to eat too much sweet stuff'. Foods that are good for you are not good to eat, and foods that are good to eat are not good for you. So ingrained is this attitude that it may come as a surprise to learn that in many cultures there is no such contrast, that the foods which are thought to make people strong and well are also exclusively the foods which they like to eat, which they boast of eating, and without which they would be most unhappy". Having made the point that it is indeed possible to choose the 'wrong' foods, Mead continues regarding contemporary America: "Each Generation of children is taught that bad food habits are a possibility against which they must continually be on guard. That is, traditionally, we have tried to make the correct consumption of foods an act of repetitive personal choice, instead of a semi-automatic behaviour. In many homes the 'right' food and the 'wrong' food are both placed on the table; the child is rewarded for eating the 'right food and so taught that the right food is undesirable because, from the child's point of view, rewards are never given for doing things which in themselves are pleasurable or enjoyable. At the same time, children are punished by having the 'wrong' food taken way from them. Here again, the lesson is taught to the child that that which is delicious is an indulgence for which one is punished or with which one is rewarded. A dichotomy is set up in the child's mind between those foods which are approved and regarded by adults as undelicious and those foods which are disapproved but recognized as delightful. A permanent conflict situation is established which will remain with that child throughout life; each nutritionally desirable choice is made with a sigh, or rejected with a sense of guilt; each choice made in terms of sheer pleasure is either accepted with guilt or rejected with a sense of puritanical self-righteousness. Every meal, every food contact becomes an experience in which one must decide between doing right and enjoying oneself". Mead, Margaret (1980) A Perspective on Food Patterns, in Issues in Nutrition for the 1980's, (eds L.A. Tobias and P.J. Thompson), Wadsworth Inc., Monterey, pp. 225-9. This quotation can also be found in: Fieldhouse, Paul (2002) Food and Nutrition: Customs and Culture. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes Ltd. pp. 86-7.