Bill Schaff
Professor
Leake
Writ 1133
April 14,
2013
The Language of Food
Food is used in our society in so
many different ways that most individuals never even notice. People will go
their whole life without making these connections that food has to the people
around them and to the culture that they live in. There is clearly the obvious
way that we use food, to be eaten, but it can provide us with so much more:
things like a topic of discussion, setting the atmosphere of the room,
determining how fancy a restaurant is, and most importantly is the language of
the food. In the words of Massino Montanari, who write the book “Food is
Culture”, to describe what the language of food means, “The language of food,
unlike verbal language, cannot be left out of the concreteness of the object,
nor of the intrinsic, in some way predetermined, semantic value of the means of
communication.” Food is essentially a means of conversation that cannot change.
Each food has its own specific trait and meaning that goes along with it that
cannot be changed.
At a restaurant called Moe’s
Original BBQ, this theory that food has a specific meaning is clearly proven.
Moe’s is a small BBQ restaurant and bar on Broadway St. It is a unique little
restaurant that is divided up into two parts: a bar area and a leisure area. In
the bar area there is basically a very long bar with one row of table behind it,
dark walls with few pictures, and the lighting is fairly dim. One the leisure side
there is a bowling alley, pool tables, a few dining table, blue walls, and it
is fairly well lit. Looking at the bar side, everything going on was revolved
around the food and drinks. Most people in the bar area looked like they had
recently gotten out of work but were still dressed in the work attire. The only
thing that they all had in common was that they were all eating either a pulled
pork sandwich or ribs.
These individuals were also sharing amongst
each other what they were eating. BBQ food at this restaurant is associated
with time that is used for friends and not home life or work life. Montanari
has a good way to help understand this, “For example, coffee, a stimulant, can
take on an antithetical social value when linked to the practice of relaxation,
as with the pause for the ‘coffee break’ between two periods of work.” In her
example coffee is associated with “break time” for these individuals whereas on
the bar side of Moe’s, BBQ food is associated with “social time”. This language
that BBQ food has is specific to BBQ food and is almost always used in this
way.
What really made this connection
that food has with culture at Moe’s Original was when you compare the bar side
and the social side. In both sides of the restaurant, food is used as a way for
individuals to communicate with each other. Food at both the bar and leisure
side of Moe’s Original was being used for “social time”. They both were using
this BBQ food and interacting around it, both sides were sharing the food with
the people around them. In one period of time in the leisure side there was a
birthday party happening and food was being used as a way for everyone to
communicate with. Everyone would take their turn bowling but would then return
to the table in which the BBQ food was sitting at. Both sides used this BBQ
food differently but also in the same manner, it was the BBQ food that was
allowing this kind of social interaction to take place. The BBQ food is used
for this kind of an interaction. If you look at the example with coffee, coffee
is associated with “break time” not another king of drink. This trait is one
that coffee mainly uses, the business man would not be having “break time” with
milk because milk is associated with breakfast or family. This is very true
with what is going on at Moe’s, the BBQ food is what is allowing this “social
time” to be possible. For example, if Moe’s offered steak instead of BBQ, the
same interaction would not be possible. People would not casually sit around a
steak and share it with eat other the same way that you could with BBQ food. It
is the traits of the food that determine what kind of an interaction will take
place around it, each different food has a different type of interaction
associated with it.
All in all, food has far to many
different uses and meaning to bring forward in such a short writing. But the
most prevalent way that food is used is through its determined traits.
Naturally, food that you can pick at like BBQ, fries, and chips will be
associated more with “social time”. Coffee is associated with “break time”. Cereal
is associated with “breakfast time”. Every food has a different but unique
trait or quality that goes along with it that will determine the kind of
interaction that people have with that food. It is the food that is creating
the type of interaction between the people.
Works Cites
Montanari,
Massimo; Sonnenfeld, Albert (Translated by). Food Is Culture.
New York, NY, USA: Columbia University Press, 2006. p 93-97.
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/udenver/Doc?id=10183599&ppg=107
Copyright © 2006. Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
1. In the essay, I found it most interesting that Moe's has an eating and a leisure side separated. In most places where you can get food and play pool or go bowling, the activities area is not separated from the food area, more everything is "mushed" together. I also found it interesting that the place sells barbecue food and not more traditional bar food. Usually when I think of leisure places, I consider the place to serve greasy bar food instead of more sit-down type food.
ReplyDelete2. The outside source contributes to Bill's assertion that different foods contribute to different "times" (e.g., coffee contributes to "break time," milk with "family time" or breakfast).
3. What larger conclusion about food values and culture does the author make, and how might you suggest refining this?
Bill draws the conclusion that barbecue place contributes to "social time," as the coffee contributes to "break time." The only suggestion I have for refining this conclusion is to expand into a little more detail about why Moe's contributes to "social time," giving more specific examples about why the food contributes to the social time, not just about the sharing of food with others, etc.
4. Other than what I stated in the previous comment, there are some minor grammatical and spelling errors that could be corrected, so rereading the essay would be beneficial. Other than that, no further comments or suggestions. Good essay!