Food & Nutrition: A Necessity for Life, Differentiated by Humanity - Essay Sample

Introduction

In his article, Robin Fox writes about food and nutrition from different themes and perspectives. Food is an essential thing in the world and differs from others due to its demand. Every day people have to eat to remain healthy and to live. Fox wants to display the significance of food over other requirements such as sex. Although all living organisms eat, human beings identify themselves uniquely in that they prepare their food through cooking. Different people, religions, cultures, geographical regions and social classes have different behavioral ways on how they handle food. Fox posited that the choice of what a person eats is determined by other factors such as culture, religion, among others rather than nutritional value.

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Fox opines that food is a form of identity that defines people in terms of social class, ethnicity, country, culture, or religion. Food is a cultural artifact that connects people. It acts as a DNA that uniquely identifies and expresses the cultural behaviors of specific people. For instance, certain types of food define the people of particular countries. A Chinese cuisine consisting of snakes and weird animals distinguishes the Chinese from people of other countries such as French who eat white bread, wine, and strong coffee. The habit of Chinese eating anything classifies them as a unique nation different from other nations that have certain preservations. Food identifies religions and distinguishes them uniquely. An excellent example, as given by Fox, is that Hindus consider it a taboo to eat beef, while Jews have several forbidden foods that they do not eat (2). As a continuation of the Jews religious activities, some Christian do not eat pork considering it to be unclean, and eating it would transmit the uncleanliness to the eaters. The choice of Catholics not to eat meat on Fridays is not a nutritional decision but a religious decision to abstain from the meet (Fox 19). In this regard, people eat the food that they are accustomed to in their country, religion, culture, or social class. The specific item that identifies them defines the food that they consume. As a result, the choice of food is determined by their preferences that bring them together as a unit.

The time to consume certain types of food is not determined by the nutritional aspect of the timing but the identity of the group of people. There are some groups of people that eat dessert after the main meal while others eat before the main meal. Besides, some take lunch as the main meal while others take breakfast as their heavy meal and supper as the lightest meal. According to Fox, the eating of such types of food is not based on their nutritional value or sense but the social class in which someone is or the country of origin that defines one's culture. The timing of eating is a status issue associated with the class or the region one belongs to. As an example, the Americans eat desserts such as salad before the heavy meal (main meal), but for the French, the salad comes after the main meal. In contrary to the French and Americans' behavior, the English people and the Arabs take the salad and the main meal at the same time without separating. In the East and most familiar with the Muslims, food is served in a common bowl from where all people eat. However, in the West, food is served in their pots or plate. Hence, the West is individualistic, while the East is communist, and this defines how they eat their food but not because doing so is nutritious or not.

Food is a component of the ceremonies organized either at home or outside the home. The choice of food is related to the phenomenon of socialization, social bonding, and social distinction (Fox 16). In instances when people have cerebrations, such as during Christmas, Easter, and after the end of Ramadhan, people gather together to eat and celebrate together. Besides, people come together to celebrate the success of a member of a friend who attained specific qualifications or ranking or promotion at the place of work. In all such instances, celebrants are joined together hence enhancing the social bond among them. When there us a cerebration, the type of food to be eaten differs due to the setting (Fox 15). In most cases, the celebrations are done at home since going to a hotel may not be appropriate. As a result, the type of food to be prepared at home becomes an issue. In a hotel, the kind of food will be determined by what is available and what people can eat and get satisfied. Such occasions do not put into consideration the nutritional aspect of a meal but the necessity.

With the changing disease paradigm, where experts continue to advise on the unfit food and the fit food for consumption and hence safeguard from a specific disease, the eating habits will undoubtedly change. While there is such a possibility., Fox posits that some things will change, but some will not change, such as greed (21). People will live with gluttony irrespective of the disease changing patterns. As a result of the changing disease patterns, people are expected to evolve and create challenging and complex prejudices that will be hard to overcome. Besides, the availability of food leads to a change in eating habits patterns (Fox 21). People must eat several times a day, unlike sex, which is occasional, and as such, food is a necessity. If one type of food that people are used to eating is not available, they will search for something else suitable to eat hence changing their eating habits. For instance, the origin of pepper and turnips un Europe made people change their eating habits with the food being adopted by the wealthy social class and later the middle and lower class. According to Fox, craving for food cannot be stopped but supplemented and satisfied (21). Thus, although changes are likely to occur, not everything will change but remain the same.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Fox offered a convincing argument that the choice of what a person eats is determined by other factors such as culture, and religion, among others, rather than nutritional value. People rarely check the nutritional value when choosing the type of dish to eat; what matters a lot is their preferences that are based on their cultures, places of origin, or religion. As evident from Fox's writings, the West differs from the East in that while the former is individualistic, the latter is communist, and as such, eating food is communal.

Work Cited

Fox, Robin. Food and eating: An anthropological perspective. 2003, http://www.sirc.org/publik/foxfood.pdf. Accessed 9 May 2020.