Food and the Social Construction of Everyday Life essay sample

Conducting a thorough research on the sociology of food, scientists revealed that consumers and manufacturers approach everyday eating practices from quite different angles. In various contexts, an ordinary dinner may serve as the only time for the family communication, an opportunity to enjoy artistic dishes cooked by skillful housewives, or few minutes of hasty eating in the interval between TV shows.

To estimate the social structure of eating, it is important to move from consumption to cooking. Cooks from different cultural environments confirm their own social role in this process. While Swedish housewives suppose that home cooking highlights their femininity and rationality, some American women consider that serving meals is routine and even discriminating. However, perception of the process does not necessarily depend on nationality. Yet another category of women treats home cooking as an expression of power and influence if this experience, for instance, has passed in generations in their family.

Social implication of serving is not one for all either. Most busy people do not usually pay attention to how their meal looks like. Trying to make their dinner as quick as possible, they do not perceive meal from the esthetic perspective. But for a creative person who has no passion to producing other forms of art, it is highly important to make meals not only tasty but perfectly looking as well.

Grocery shopping is another everyday habit which can be seen as more than purchasing products.  Certainly, individuals who have no interest in cooking themselves seldom take care about something other than a cost of the grocery. However, those passionate cooks combine shopping with socialization visiting a local market to buy fresh vegetables from familiar farmers.