Human Nutrition

FOOD HABITS ❚
with low-income diets, have a low status. Everyday
foods, such as potatoes, sausages and baked
beans, will also have relatively low status. The
status of foods may change with time, depending
on how they are valued. For example, in the
nineteenth century, brown bread was considered
coarse and fit only for the lower classes; now it
is seen as healthy and desirable in the diet, and
its status has increased considerably.
What is eaten in particular circumstances is
likely to reflect the assumed status of the food.
When eating alone, it does not matter what we
eat, and people may ‘treat’ themselves to combinations
of foods that they would not eat in
company. As soon as food is eaten in company,
value judgements are made on the basis of the
foods. The status of the foods served reflects the
implied status in which the diners are held. Thus,
the type of food shared in a meal implies more
than satisfying a physiological need. Sharing
food with others is very symbolic: it confirms previously
established links, and a sense of mutual
identity. There is also powerful peer pressure in
food selection.
Relationships within groups of people are
confirmed in the sharing of food: usually the
most powerful or most important members of
the group are served first. This not only confirms
their superiority, but allows them to choose the
prime parts of the meal.
The food preferences of men and women
often differ; in most cultures men consume more
meat and women consume more fruit and vegetables.
Women tend to eat more of the foods
that are regarded as ‘healthy’. It is suggested that
these differences are associated with the traditional
gender roles, which still exist in society.
Women remain in charge of the food-related
activity; therefore, they tend to know more
about food. Information about healthy diets
tends to be seen more by women, as it features
in women’s magazines, or in leaflets available
from supermarkets or in doctors’ surgeries.
However, despite this greater knowledge, or level
of information, decisions about what is eaten are
shown to be dictated in many families by the
men and children, rather than the women.
Studies of changes in food intake on marriage
show that both partners make some adjustments,
with husbands adopting more of the wives’
habits initially, but reverting to their original
habits in time. Nevertheless, married men tend
to have healthier diets than single men.
Differences have also been reported in the way
food is eaten, with men taking gulps and mouthfuls,
whereas women nibble and pick. As a consequence
of this, it is suggested that some foods are
more appropriate for women (such as fish or fruit)
and other foods for men (red meat, bread).
Food can be a powerful means of communication.
A box of chocolates given as a present is
perhaps the most widely used example of food
acting as a token of affection. Some may find it
easier to give the chocolates than to put into
words what they are feeling. A cup of tea is a
typically British answer to a difficult social situation,
when words are hard to find. A family eating
a meal together is sharing not only food, but
the affection they feel for each other. Rejecting
the meal in this situation can, therefore, be a very
potent dismissal of the love being offered.
Reciprocal invitations to meals or parties by both
adults and children strengthen the social bonds.
Children may exchange small items of food, such
as sweets, to communicate their friendship.
A special form of communication by means
of food exists in the ritual use of food. Many
religions use foods as offerings to their deities.
Christians use bread and wine. The end of the
growing season and the harvest are marked in
many communities by a festival, with a sample
of the crops being offered in thanksgiving, often
to the poorest members of the community.
Certain life events are marked by specific
ritual meals – baptismal feasts, wedding breakfast,
the funeral wake. Group membership may
also be marked by rituals involving food or
drink; for example, the pre-wedding ritual of
stag night and hen party, where the men and the
women separately undergo a ‘rite of passage’,
usually involving large amounts of alcohol.
Food represents security from the earliest
age, so that in times of stress it can form an
important support. Anxiety can provoke eating
as a means of coping with tension, although in
some individuals stress can result in a loss of
appetite and an inability to eat. Anxiety may
also lead to feeding others, for example, anxious
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