Annotated Bibliography
The critical analysis essay I am working on is about food and culture. Food has two main functions in our society. First, food as nutritional benefits associated with our diet and our lifestyle. Second, food as a social activity. My essay will be focusing on the second function of food. I am going to show how food can illustrate people’s attitudes and relations towards one another as they interact, build bonds and everlasting relationships during a social activity. To support my idea, I will use different sources that contain information and examples relevant to my topic. These sources are:
Hunt, Geoffrey, et al. “Food in the family. Bringing young people back in.” Appetite, vol. 56, no. 2, 2011, pp. 394–402., doi:10.1016/j.appet.2011.01.001. This article analyzes eating and beliefs about family meals, and it is based on the interviews of 30 “at risk” gang-involved women in San Francisco. In examining eating within the family, we can find two sets of practices in this article. Eating alone and eating with others. The women who were eating alone tend to have conflicts with their family while the women who were eating with their family valued the family meal and had a better relationship with their parents and other people. This paper highlights the importance of understanding family eating practices from the perspective of young people in the family. This article has a lot of information I can use for my essay. It shows how food and the concept of families having meals together reinforce their relationships. According to the article, most of the women participated in the research, who had family meals regularly had a better relationship with their parents. That proves the idea of food playing an essential role in building and bonding healthy relationships. Therefore, I can use this source for my essay.
Edwin, Shirin. “Subverting Social Customs: The Representation of Food in Three West African Francophone Novels.” Research in African Literatures, vol. 39, no. 3, 2008, pp. 39–50. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20109622. This article analyzes the non-nutritive function of food and how its social symbolism constitutes the basis for relationships in communities in West Africa. Food is seen as a crucial and significant component of social interaction. It shows someone's prestige or status and is used as means of maintaining and ending social relationships. For example, in a funeral where food sharing with relatives and friends reflects hospitality which is very important in West African culture. Sharing and eating food with others also demonstrates the importance of commensality in reinforcing community, familial and social ties. This article refers to food culture in West Africa and how food has played such an important role in social relationships among people. It contains so many useful information I can use for my essay. For example, in the passages says that eating together presupposes mutual understanding based on friendship, membership in a group, mutual respect, and reinforcement of old or new ties. My thesis statement is about food as a social activity and and its role in human relationships, so the information in this article can be easily used to prove my point.
Holtzman, Jon D. “Food and Memory.” Annual Review of Anthropology, vol. 35, 2006, pp. 361–378. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25064929. This article describes the connection food has to memory issues. You can find information about how food and food rituals relate to someone's ethnic or other forms of identity. By analyzing the memory through food, anthropologists can offer a better understanding of how memory is formed. This article is not so relevant to my topic since its main purpose is to relate food to memory. But it can be useful because memories formed through food, are associated with social interaction. For instance, Serematakis’s reference to past events while drinking a cup of coffee is a good example, since social relations and ties among people are constructed through narratives of past events. Therefore, I can use that to support my claim.
Fieldhouse, Paul. “Social functions of food.” Food and Nutrition, 1995, pp. 78–105. Chapter 4 of this book is about social functions of food. It says that non-biological association of food can be seen in common in everyday social interaction. Food is also a vehicle for expressing friendship, for showing concern and smoothing social intercourse. Rituals and celebrations are usually centered around food. In many cases, the type of food defines the celebration. For example, Christmas pudding or Thanksgiving turkey. Since this chapter refers to food usages in social relationships, it can be very helpful to find examples to support my claim. For instance, Thanksgiving, a celebration where friends and relatives gather together to eat traditional meals and socialize. As a result, the members of the event will develop a stronger connection and a stronger bonding with each other. Therefore this source can easily be used to reinforce my thesis statement.
Murcot, Anne. “Proceedings of The Nutrition Society.” The cultural significance of food and eating, vol. 41, 1982, pp. 203–209. www.bing.com/cr?IG=FEC5F27FD431406BB54C50D049ADDE52&CID=37D0901CE1246DE 1210E9B31E0226CDB&rd=1&h=HjOEVbMyGHr5si7pQE7Pe6jpsmM1BVmMB0nqsaR9TOM &v=1&r=https%3a%2f%2fwww.cambridge.org%2fcore%2fservices%2faop-cambridge- core%2fcontent%2fview%2fS0029665182000342&p=DevEx,5065.1. This article is about the cultural significance of food and eating habits and culture in the UK. According to the article, cultural significance of food and eating focuses on social values, meanings, and beliefs rather than on dietary requirements and nutritional values. To understand eating habits as a matter of culture, we have to view them as a product of codes of conduct and the structure of social relationships of the society in which they occur. This article is relevant to my essay because it has examples of how food construct relationships among people. For instance, it says in the article that ‘cooked dinner’ is very important in British culture. A plateful so composed is regarded as a ‘proper’ meal and plays a significant role in family relations. It helps keep the family together and reinforces their bonding. Therefore, this article is very helpful for my writing.
Hunt, Geoffrey, et al. “Food in the family. Bringing young people back in.” Appetite, vol. 56, no. 2, 2011, pp. 394–402., doi:10.1016/j.appet.2011.01.001. This article analyzes eating and beliefs about family meals, and it is based on the interviews of 30 “at risk” gang-involved women in San Francisco. In examining eating within the family, we can find two sets of practices in this article. Eating alone and eating with others. The women who were eating alone tend to have conflicts with their family while the women who were eating with their family valued the family meal and had a better relationship with their parents and other people. This paper highlights the importance of understanding family eating practices from the perspective of young people in the family. This article has a lot of information I can use for my essay. It shows how food and the concept of families having meals together reinforce their relationships. According to the article, most of the women participated in the research, who had family meals regularly had a better relationship with their parents. That proves the idea of food playing an essential role in building and bonding healthy relationships. Therefore, I can use this source for my essay.
Edwin, Shirin. “Subverting Social Customs: The Representation of Food in Three West African Francophone Novels.” Research in African Literatures, vol. 39, no. 3, 2008, pp. 39–50. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20109622. This article analyzes the non-nutritive function of food and how its social symbolism constitutes the basis for relationships in communities in West Africa. Food is seen as a crucial and significant component of social interaction. It shows someone's prestige or status and is used as means of maintaining and ending social relationships. For example, in a funeral where food sharing with relatives and friends reflects hospitality which is very important in West African culture. Sharing and eating food with others also demonstrates the importance of commensality in reinforcing community, familial and social ties. This article refers to food culture in West Africa and how food has played such an important role in social relationships among people. It contains so many useful information I can use for my essay. For example, in the passages says that eating together presupposes mutual understanding based on friendship, membership in a group, mutual respect, and reinforcement of old or new ties. My thesis statement is about food as a social activity and and its role in human relationships, so the information in this article can be easily used to prove my point.
Holtzman, Jon D. “Food and Memory.” Annual Review of Anthropology, vol. 35, 2006, pp. 361–378. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25064929. This article describes the connection food has to memory issues. You can find information about how food and food rituals relate to someone's ethnic or other forms of identity. By analyzing the memory through food, anthropologists can offer a better understanding of how memory is formed. This article is not so relevant to my topic since its main purpose is to relate food to memory. But it can be useful because memories formed through food, are associated with social interaction. For instance, Serematakis’s reference to past events while drinking a cup of coffee is a good example, since social relations and ties among people are constructed through narratives of past events. Therefore, I can use that to support my claim.
Fieldhouse, Paul. “Social functions of food.” Food and Nutrition, 1995, pp. 78–105. Chapter 4 of this book is about social functions of food. It says that non-biological association of food can be seen in common in everyday social interaction. Food is also a vehicle for expressing friendship, for showing concern and smoothing social intercourse. Rituals and celebrations are usually centered around food. In many cases, the type of food defines the celebration. For example, Christmas pudding or Thanksgiving turkey. Since this chapter refers to food usages in social relationships, it can be very helpful to find examples to support my claim. For instance, Thanksgiving, a celebration where friends and relatives gather together to eat traditional meals and socialize. As a result, the members of the event will develop a stronger connection and a stronger bonding with each other. Therefore this source can easily be used to reinforce my thesis statement.
Murcot, Anne. “Proceedings of The Nutrition Society.” The cultural significance of food and eating, vol. 41, 1982, pp. 203–209. www.bing.com/cr?IG=FEC5F27FD431406BB54C50D049ADDE52&CID=37D0901CE1246DE 1210E9B31E0226CDB&rd=1&h=HjOEVbMyGHr5si7pQE7Pe6jpsmM1BVmMB0nqsaR9TOM &v=1&r=https%3a%2f%2fwww.cambridge.org%2fcore%2fservices%2faop-cambridge- core%2fcontent%2fview%2fS0029665182000342&p=DevEx,5065.1. This article is about the cultural significance of food and eating habits and culture in the UK. According to the article, cultural significance of food and eating focuses on social values, meanings, and beliefs rather than on dietary requirements and nutritional values. To understand eating habits as a matter of culture, we have to view them as a product of codes of conduct and the structure of social relationships of the society in which they occur. This article is relevant to my essay because it has examples of how food construct relationships among people. For instance, it says in the article that ‘cooked dinner’ is very important in British culture. A plateful so composed is regarded as a ‘proper’ meal and plays a significant role in family relations. It helps keep the family together and reinforces their bonding. Therefore, this article is very helpful for my writing.