4,680 research outputs found
When convenience is inconvenient: âhealthyâ family foodways and the persistent intersectionalities of gender and class
This article draws on findings from an auto/biographical study about relationships with food to demonstrate how everyday foodways continue to be influenced by the intersectionalities of gender and class. Following Bourdieu [1984. Distinction, a social critique of the judgement of taste. London: Routledge] how âfoodiesâ use food and foodways (the production, preparation, serving and eating of food) as a material and cultural display of capital (Johnston, J., & Baumann, S. 2010. Foodies, democracy and distinction in the gourmet kitchen. London: Routledge) or even âculinary capitalâ (Naccarato, P., & LeBesco, K. 2012. Culinary capital. London: Berg) has been demonstrated. There has been less work exploring how mothers use âfeeding the familyâ (DeVault, M. I. 1991. Feeding the family. London: University of Chicago Press) as a source of cultural capital for themselves. Three-quarters of the 75 respondents in my UK study were parents and all mothers with dependant children fed their family âhealthyâ food as a means of performing a particular middle-class habitus. I therefore examine how mothers engaged in âhealthyâ foodwork as a means of positioning themselves as âgoodâ mothers or âyummy mummiesâ (Allen, K., & Osgood, J. 2009. Studies in the Maternal, 1). Indeed, despite decades of gender equality in the public sphere and neo-liberal assertions regarding individualism, âfeeding the familyâ (DeVault, 1991) continues to be a highly gendered activity, with the added pressure of now having to provide âhealthyâ food cooked from scratch. In these accounts, convenience foods and/or âunhealthyâ family foodways were vilified and viewed with disgust, with an adherence to âhealthyâ family foodways used as a means of drawing boundaries within fields of âorganised strivingâ (Martin, J. 2011. On the explanation of social action, Chicago: University of Chicago Press; Savage, M., & Silva, E. B. 2013. Cultural Sociology, 7, 111â126). This article considers âhealthyâ foodwork as a significant aspect of âgoodâ middle-class mothering, whereby âhealthyâ family foodways become significant in the performance and display of âproperâ middle-class femininity that pathologises alternative family foodways and âotherâ femininities. This serves to illuminate continuities within the intersectionalities of gender and class, with a commitment to âhealthyâ family foodways central to âfuture orientedâ (middle classed) maternal identity
The joy of food play - an exploration of the continued intersectionalities of gender and class in men's auto/biographical accounts of everyday foodways.
Making time for food when âdoing timeâ; how enhanced status prisoners counter the indignity of prison foodways
LEAF CARBON-ISOTOPE DISCRIMINATION AND VEGETATIVE RESPONSES OF DRYAS-OCTOPETALA TO TEMPERATURE AND WATER MANIPULATIONS IN A HIGH ARCTIC POLAR SEMIDESERT, SVALBARD
âCheese and Chips out of Styrofoam Containersâ: An Exploration of Taste and Cultural Symbols of Appropriate Family Foodways
Taste is considered a gustatory and physiological sense. It is also something that can be developed over time. In Bourdieuâs work taste is a matter of distinction, and a means of drawing boundaries between groups about what constitutes âgoodâ taste. In this context it is necessary to perform or display tastes over and over again. This then becomes part of a cultural habitus, a code that can be read and understood. In the field of âfeeding the familyâ (DeVault) for respondents in my study, healthy food prepared from scratch became the symbol of appropriate mothering, a means of demonstrating a middle class habitus, distinction, and taste. I use the term âfamily foodwaysâ to emphasize how feeding the family encapsulates more than buying, preparing, cooking, and serving food, it incorporates the ways in which families practice, perform, and âdoâ family food. These family foodways are about the family of today, as well as an investment in the family of the future, through the reproduction and reinforcement of cultural values and tastes around food
âCommensalityâ as a theatre for witnessing change for criminalised individuals working at a resettlement scheme.
No embargo required.This article draws on analysis of interview data from an exploratory case study at an independent âoffenderâ resettlement scheme in England, investigating the benefits or otherwise of commensality for criminalised individuals and the wider community who share a communal lunchtime meal. For prisoners released on temporary licence and others referred through probation, caught in the liminal space between criminal and civilian life, commensality enables social interaction with non-criminalised individuals in a social environment outside of the prison estate. It becomes an arena for the display of non-criminalised identities in preparation for release into the community after punishment. It is a useful tool for social integration that challenges stereotypical beliefs about criminalised individuals amongst the wider community. Moreover, commensality works as a theatre for the performance of non-criminalised identities, by promoting social inclusion and generativity, it is part of a process of desistance geared towards improving self-worth
Cooking with offenders to improve health and well-being
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the benefits of cooking one-to-one, alongside commensality (eating together) for improving offendersâ/ex-offendersâ health and well-being, measured in terms of improved social skills, cultural competencies and successful resettlement.
Design/methodology/approach
Fieldwork conducted over nine months included; participant observation of lunch times (n=56) and cooking one-to-one with trainees (n=27), semi-structured interviews (n=23) and a âphoto-dialogueâ focus group with trainees (n=5) and staff (n=2).
Findings
Commensality is beneficial for offendersâ health and well-being. Further, preparing, cooking, serving and sharing food is a powerful means of improving self-esteem and developing a pro-social identity.
Research limitations/implications
The original focus of the research was commensality; it was during the study that the potential for cooking as an additional tool for health and well-being emerged. A future longitudinal intervention would be beneficial to examine whether the men continued to cook for others once released from prison and/or finished at the resettlement scheme.
Practical implications
Everyday cooking to share with others is an invaluable tool for improving self-worth. It has the potential to build pro-social self-concepts and improve human, social and cultural capital.
Social implications
Cooking lunch for others is a part of strengths-based approach to resettlement that values community involvement.
Originality/value
Cooking and eating with offenders/ex-offenders is highly unusual. Further hands-on cooking/eating activities are beneficial in terms of aiding self-confidence and self-respect, which are vital for improving offendersâ/ex-offendersâ health and well-being.
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