The Course Blog of Anthropology 210 @ Wheaton College, Fall 2014

The Course Blog of Anthropology 210 @ Wheaton College, Fall 2014

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Do I look like I like avocado?

By now we all know that food exists as a social fact. Food is never just calories and vitamins, but rather has all sorts of cultural connections. While abroad friends often asked me what we ate in America. Pasta, pizza and meat are our American staples. I find, however, that I rarely, if ever, eat these food items, or at least the last two, as a vegetarian with vegan tendencies (I renounced my veganism when I went abroad and would've shriveled if I hadn't, insulting everyone in the process by refusing their food). I have also found that the food choices I have made have influenced the way people perceive me. Although, as we learned, the slow food movement started in Italy, it has really caught on in America where there now seems to be a whole culture based on food that I inadvertently found myself being identified with. My sophomore year Wheaton had an "I am ___" event where students were asked to sum their identity in a couple words. I wondered what word I would use when my roommate offered "Vegan." And like the Victorian women, my eating choices became my identity (Brumberg). That same year my communications with a contemporary were terminated because I was too "crunchy." According to urban dictionary this word is used to describe "persons who have adjusted or altered their lifestyle for environmental reasons. Crunchy is derived from "crunchy granola," apparently a food associated with persons [who] tend to be politically strongly left-leaning and may be additionally but not exclusively categorized as vegetarians, vegans, eco-tarians, conservationists, environmentalists, neo-hippies, tree huggers, nature enthusiasts, etc." (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=crunchy). Clearly this culture is more than just food but it is interesting that a food is used to encapsulate it. Perhaps this is because vegetarianism itself is a way of exerting power as consumers to show disagreement with the meat industry and its environmental as well as human rights offenses, a true example of "Appetite as Voice" (Brumberg). Years later, I was no longer being labeled as crunchy, but I started to notice a new food was starting to be used to describe my "identity." Many of my friends were surprised to hear that I don't like avocado. I kept hearing "You look like you like avocado." I had no idea what that was supposed to me, how could I look like I like a fruit? So I went to my roommate. She smirked and said "hipster." Again we see a food item being used as a symbol for a culture/lifestyle. And by being assigned these foods to define the person I am, I have felt so judged.

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