THE MEANING OF FOOD VARIES FROM CULTURE TO CULTURE, SAYS ARCHAEOLOGIST NAN ROTHSCHILD
 It's true: you are what you eat. And, according to Barnard archaeologist Nan A. Rothschild, who you eat with has symbolic meaning, too.
"Food is a multifaceted element of culture," says Rothschild, Ann Whitney Olin Professor in Barnard's Department of Anthropology, who teaches a course called Food and Society. This week the National Geographic Channel will air a documentary on taboo foods around the globe that features a discussion with Rothschild.
She says humans have always attached symbolic meanings to food, and consequently, eating is given a unique status in different parts of the world.
Not everyone today, or a hundred years ago, for instance, would consider sharing a meal with certain people from work or sitting down to dinner with their neighbors. They only ate with family members.
Rothschild says some groups eat only for fuel, not for pleasure, while others-such as certain tribes in Papua, New Guinea- are so particular about food that they classify it by gender: male foods and female foods. In regions of India, two people from different castes are allowed to sleep together but not eat with one another.
"Food has symbolic meanings in various cultures, sometimes reflecting your social category," Rothschild says. "Men, for example, have often been told they should eat meat, even in working class families when there's only enough for one person. The man usually receives it because of the meaning applied to meat and strength."
To understand how food contributes to social constructs such as these, Rothschild has her students analyze a ritualized meal like Thanksgiving. She instructs them to observe the dynamics of what's on the table and who's around it, as well as who gets served first, most, etc.
"This helps them better understand the relation between food and its meaning to social groups," Rothschild says.
In the National Geographic special, Rothschild discusses the Icelandic winter celebration called Thorrablot-a festival of feasts comprised of some unusual delicacies: rams' testicles, sheep's heads, and rotting shark. Although these dishes strike most outsiders as vile, for Icelanders the feasts are potent ways to preserve their Viking heritage.
"The purpose of continuing to eat these foods makes the rituals real and distinguishes the festival culture from everyday life-it reinforces history," said Rothschild
It also provides a bonding experience for Icelanders. "By eating these foods-which can be hard to eat-you prove your tie to the community," Rothschild said.
As recent reports suggest, America's love affair with food is out of control, sending obesity rates off the scales (the Center for Disease Control cites 30 percent of Americans are overweight, 64 percent considered obese).
What do today's food habits say about the social problem of weight gain and high obesity rates in the United States?
"I don't think Americans are more obsessed with food than anyone else," Rothschild says. "It's just we're eating the wrong kinds of food. We have more food available but our food habits have changed. We don't cook as much or sit down for family dinners (except at Thanksgiving and other major holidays) because it's easier to grab something on the run."
Foods today taste better, too, Rothschild says, because of salt and sugar and these changes affect our social dynamics as well as intake quantity. But the United States is not the only country getting fatter.
"In all developed countries, weight is going up because lifestyles are generally more sedentary," says Professor Barbara Woike, a psychologist whose research examines how biological, psychological and social factors are related to health and illness. "A lot of social factors are in place: fast food, sitting in front of screens, media images and the general belief that more is better in this country all contribute to a lifestyle that does not support health."
Woike believes consumer demand is one of the few ways to effect change in the food industry.
"The food issue is a big one for Barnard students and young women in particular," Woike says. "But I find having more information is often not enough to help people change. There are many mediating factors that dictate a person's attitudes and behaviors about his health. Too often there's a disconnect between what we know about certain foods and how we're eating."
_Jo Kadlecek
Taboo: Delicacies airs on the National Geographic Channel Thursday, April 22, at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Please visit the following web address for more information: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0419_040419_TVfoodtaboo.html#main
For more information, please contact Suzanne Trimel in the Barnard Office of Public Affairs, 212-854-7583, strimel@barnard.edu
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