How Food Affects Society

How Food Affects Society There are many factors that play a major role in the health of a human being. One of the most important factors involved is food. Without food in the human life, the human life would cease to exist. The consumption of food is what energizes the human body, gives it the nutrition it needs, and most importantly, keeps the body actively working and living. Unfortunately over the years, numerous changes have taken an effect on food. Those effects have also had an impact on the human body being healthy verses unhealthy. The type of food one chooses to consume is what will determine the stage of health your body will be in. Carole Counihan’s article, “Food Rules in the United States: Individualism, Control, and Hierarchy,” and Svetlana Ristovski-Slijepcevic’s et al article, “Being ‘thick’ indicates you are eating, you are healthy and you have an attractive body shape: Perspectives and fatness and food choice amongst Black and White men and women in Canada,” are two articles that help explain why we make those choices we make, and how society has an impact on those choices. According to these two articles, two factors that play the biggest role in our choices toward the food we decide to consume are ethnicity and gender. They also play a significantly important role on how our food choices are constructed upon the society. As stated above, one of the major factors involved in our food choices is gender. Gender also plays a role in our everyday life situations. Each gender has its own norms and standards and people constantly apply these standards to the opposite sex. For example, food is one of those standards and norms. To be more specific, the amount of food consumed would be considered a standard and/or norm. Food can give men and women an attractive body shape or, if abused, it can create a health risk and can cause them to think that they are unattractive. Counihan states in her article, “While college

Cited: Counihan, Carole M. "Food Rules in the United States: Individualism, Control, and Hierarchy." Anthropological Quarterly Apr. 1992, Volume 65 ed., Number 2 sec.: 55-66. Web. Ristovski-Slijepcevic, Svetlana, Kirsten Bell, Gwen E. Chapman, and Brenda L. Beagan. "Being ‘thick’ Indicates You Are Eating, You Are Healthy and You Have an Attractive Body Shape: Perspectives N Fatness and Food Choice amongst Black and White Men and Women in Canada." Health Sociology Review. 2010. 317-29. Web