I have a noticed a shift in the role that food plays in our lives and in our culture. Food has become more than one of life's great pleasures. It has become a signifier of style, too. The notion that "you are what you eat" extends beyond the virtues of a nutritious, well-balanced diet. These days, it often seems that you are what you purchase in the supermarket or at the farmer's market; your grocery list is a reflection of your values and your identity. Chefs are as celebrated as designers (move over, Armani, here's Batali!) and eating and entertaining have become haute couture: Food is the new fashion.I've covered the specious science behind vegetarianism and connected this academic phenomenon to the leftist ideologies that underpin the American intellectual landscape. Any observant individual should note that liberalism doesn't exist for mere magnanimity, as any status-seeking liberal must let everyone know where he stands. As Mrs. Stewart points out, food has become a popular "fashion trend", a type of decor that advertises an individual's tastes. And in the enclaves of SWPLdom and polite society, those tastes are inexorably liberal and multicultural.
So what then has the elite gobbled up, literally, as indicative of their worldliness? Judging from recent stores opened near me and conversations with a few vegetarian acquaintances, these foods are very "in". Take a quick guess as to what they have in common:
-hummusIn one of these conversations, I celebrated the closing of a Mediterranean restaurant near me (I think the owners were from Iran) to a vegetarian friend. I said something like, "give me a damn steak, I mean who wants to eat falafel?" She responded, "well, yea all the stupid people won't go there," a telling allusion to the middle class notion that dumb people don't "understand" foreign foods. No, maybe we just don't like eating grass and feeling and looking like crap from carb overload.
-pita bread
-sushi
-curry
-green tea
-guacamole/avocado
-burritos and beans
-lentils
-falafel
-basmati rice
-arugula
I wonder when the status-mongering will stop amongst the upper and SWPL classes. If food, the very thing that keeps us alive, can fall victim to the consequences of social climbing, then what's next. Will they find some different way to breath, undoubtedly paying homage to some foreign custom, then look down upon the unwashed masses for not "getting it."
26 comments:
Look up yogic breathing. The problem with your sarcasm is; it's not sarcastic enough.
Eating, breathing. How about sleeping?
According to Arianna Huffington, there's such a thing as a "Cult of No-Sleep", though I don't know if it's analagous.
I don't get it. Yes, food is not just about nutrition but also about status. But honestly, what isn't?
Furthermore, as a conservative / reactionary, aren't status hierarchies basically the last thing you could complain about? Sure, you (and I) lean probably more toward explicit hierarchy and make fun of the whole sneaky liberal "hierarchy within equality" bullshit, but still.
Last but not least, I agree with you about the liberal-vergetarianism connection, no doubt about that. But there is a real convergence going on between the liberal-vergetarian camp and the conservative-paleo camp. Both agree about a lot of stuff and there really seems to be a shift -albeit a slow one- in academia toward the paleo POV. As much misguided and naive much of the organic / locavore / hippie shit is, I'm inclined to see that as one of the more positive developments out of these movements.
Arugula is not on your list. Obama as a candidate once made a gaffe about that.
I like hummus but I do notice that it's been a staple of High-SWPL house parties. Of course now that any prole-area grocery store has it, it no longer has the same cachet and SWPLs must ante-up.
Curry is something I never liked. Maybe it was ruined for me when someone told me that poor cultures use heavy spices to mask the unfreshness of the food. Even since then curry always conjured up for me an image of stanky meat.
"She responded, "well, yea all the stupid people won't go there," a telling allusion to the middle class notion that dumb people don't "understand" foreign foods."
Good article, but let's not let imprecise definitions of "middle class" creep into our discourse. "SWPL" would be more accurate; I can't figure out what happened to "yuppie" anyway (or whether the middle of it was "urban" or "upwardly mobile"). More broadly there is "bourgeoisie" for urban middle class. I'm pretty sure everyone I know who raises beef also eats it, and they sure as heck aren't lower or upper class.
Ask a Liberal to defend mass immigration and they will almost inevitably mention better restaurants, in many cases that is the main benefit mentioned (as if that trivial "benefit" was a rational thing to base something as important as immigration policy on). But then the entire "anti-racism" movement is largely class warfare by another means. When your friend said "stupid" the "racist" was implied.
don't hate on falafels
they're awesome
a hearty lol at your last paragraph though
bring back the lil smokies. shit.
i don't know about everyone else, but the lebanese are taking over the food industry in my town. this town is swimming in hummus and shawarma.
This is one of those SWPL things where you hate it because it's something white people like, but you have to admit that they have a point.
Donairs are an awesome drunk food, but somehow they never caught on in North America. I actually like them better than burgers (though I do like burgers). Similarly, sushi is delicious. Guacamole goes pretty well with nachos.
If food tastes good, I will eat it, regardless of where it comes from or who likes it. That is why I also like stuff like schnitzel, which no self respecting SWPL would touch.
Chuck: does a contingent of hot Leb chicks accompany this great wave of settler-restauraneurs?
SWPL status mongering will NEVER end. Until SWPL are destroyed as a class, through either ostracism/being pushed out by other groups, or radical change (mass draft/mobilization, catastrophes, plagues, etc.) that makes status mongering no longer important.
SWPL status monger because they are driven by a female-gay dominance. It is "Mean Girls" and "social power by exclusion" writ large. That's female "power" all the way. Or gay power (same difference).
Male power hierarchies are characterized by as much patronage and amassing of resources as possible. Think "coaching trees," Sherman and Grant, Saddam, Berlusconi, Putin, etc. They can be violent and brutal, or not. But at their core they have resource husbanding-grabbing and patronage building. Some will be outsiders, but that is driven by resources, not a desire for social exclusion.
Men assess other men based on their ability to fight with them (or against them) and how much patronage/power they bring to the group. Women assess other women based on how "cool" they can be by being as exclusive as possible. One seeks power by social exclusion, the other by manpower (literally) and resource control.
Or put it another way, SWPL status mongering is driven pretty much by a female culture and power structure.
There have always been fashionable foods and foods more popular among one group of people over another. Dinner party hosts serve well prepared and little known foods to demonstrate their knowledge. Anyone could serve his or her guests Brie imported from France, but what about unpasteurized Brie or Camembert that cannot be bought in America? Or alligator meat? Or foie gras?
I remember trying a chicken patty from Tyson and it tasted like cheap tofu. Needless to say, I immediately threw the box in the trash. I've honestly had tofu that was better, and tofu itself cannot compete with Portobello or tempeh. Tempeh is especially good when cooked in coconut oil.
Additionally, no one social milieu holds a monopoly on good and/or foreign food. Take for instance rosewater from Lebanon, Adzuki beans, or fugu; what stops the working class from consuming such foods? While it is true that people die of asphyxiation from consuming ill-prepared fugu, such deaths number only approximately 100 per year.
As far as green (or any) tea goes it is consumed largely for health reasons, like Yerba Mate, kombucha, Ginseng, or skin detox tea. There are teas for relaxation and teas for exercising.
Green tea is good for when you want a hot drink without caffeine.
What all those foods have in common is that they are tasty! I wouldn't eat them everyday, but some variety to your diet is nice. There isn't anything SWPL about enjoying ordinary guac/avocado with some tortilla chips or a taco.
"Green tea is good for when you want a hot drink without caffeine."
Green tea can sometimes have a fair amount of caffeine in it. I've drunk some that had as much kick as strong coffee.
Thomas said...
"As much misguided and naive much of the organic / locavore / hippie shit is"
The locavore movement is another example of a dumb idea adopted by SWPL culture. Someone once lectured me that only the consumption of locally grown food (100 miles) can be considered an environmentally sustainable practice. Some locavores will give a more geneourous allowance (250 miles).
I gave this person a history lesson:
During the 19th century clipper ships exported wheat from Australia to England. A distance of 13,000 miles. I think sail boats pass the test for "environmental sustainability" and 13,000 miles sure as hell doesn't count as "locally grown" so that destroys the argument that the 100mile diet has any merit.
Locavores pay a high price both in money and inconvenience to practice their ideology. What do they get out of it?
As what Whiskey said:
"social power by exclusion"
If I was rich, I'd start a cargo sailing ship business transporting organic food. I wonder if there's enough dumb SWPL's (with too much money) who'd be willing to pay a financial premium to be green.
Normally the topics of food diets and identity diets bore me, but your clever thoughts drew me in.
Many of the food item discussed here can be had at Walmart Grocery for cheap prices. If demand waranted, Walmart could sell cheap foie gras. I've goaded High-SWPLS with this info. and they refuse to believe that Walmart sells organic.
Do low ses people also use food to shape their dentity? I think so, but am lacking some particulars.
Maybe at the food pantry or soup kitchen, they give it up.
"Take a quick guess as to what they have in common:"
They are foreign food, but what is important all are noneuropean food.
And mostly third world food of poor peaople.
Even sushi is food of poor people of Japan.
You cannot show your status by eating high-end European food. It must be low-end third world food.
Yeah, I think an interest in "food culture" is probably the biggest cultural marker I can think of amongst the BoBo crowd (who are more or less analogous to 25-30<x<45 SWPLs).
It's culturally a very big deal for them, although I differ from how you present things here in that I find that they're not just into foreign and health food, but also tend to have a strong affection for "authentic" fast food (not McDonalds, but some diner, not KFC, but some little chicken and waffles joint, not pizza hut but "authentic New York pizza", &c.), which is kind of weirdly at odds with the rest of their food ethos. You can check their blogs if you don't buy this.
"Furthermore, as a conservative reactionary, aren't status hierarchies basically the last thing you could complain about?"
Thomas: I find Conservatives are accepting and generally supportive of status hierarchies that emerge "naturally", that is as a consequence of necessity or at least a lack of (even subconscious) intent (there's a strong preference for letting unintentional hierarchies lie rather than instituting intentional ones). Hence all the "natural law", "natural aristocracy" and "social evolution" stuff that is popular amongst Conservatives.
Really obvious intentional and blatantly non-necessary hierarchies still tend to piss them off. They're not 100% consistent with this (there's a lot of arbitary "My type of people are number 1!" for example, maybe more than the average), but its probably more of a good model for them than "Yay hierarchy!".
A lot of Middle Eastern food that's "vegetarian" fare was developed out of the necessity of observing the frequent, and strict, Orthodox Christian Fasts.
When it's a Feast day, you better believe they are going to have beef, lamb, goat or chicken. Or beef, lamb, goat AND chicken.
I've meant to ask this for a while :
Is anyone knowledgeable about the health outcomes for strict (vegan or vegetarian) 7th day adventists ?
Take a look :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventist_Health_Studies
I wasn't able to find any criticism of those studies. The main point is that the adventist vegetarian diet seems to be the cause of their above average health outcomes.
Re: The "in" foods. Note that I eat ALL of these and love them. I'm quasi-vegetarian (still eat fish and eggs) so I eat many of these food pretty often.
-hummus
This is probably my favorite food but unfortunately hummus is becoming prole now because too many people serve it at parties next to the chips and dip.
-pita bread
Pita bread will always be SWPL because it's so versatile. Wraps are preferable to sandwiches unless that sandwich costs $20 or more.
-sushi
Sushi at an all-you-can-eat restaurant = prole
The reason why this type of sushi is prole is because you see a lot of Asian college students and a lot of dumb white jocks at these places. Also, anything that is all-you-can-eat is prole by default.
Sushi desserts = SWPL
Weird decorative sushi from a small restaurant = uber-SWPL
-curry
Curry is served in bars now. Prole.
-green tea
Only loose leaf is SWPL.
-guacamole/avocado
Umm...this has been around forever and it's not exotic in any way. Prole.
-burritos and beans
If you are buying them, then they must be organic or else it's prole food. And if you are eating out, you must order it at a Cuban restaurant, not MEXICAN.
-lentils
SWPLs love soups, so lentils is SWPL food.
-falafel
Two things make this prole food.
1. It's deep fried.
2. Shwarma places are everywhere and you can get a falafels at pretty much all of them.
-basmati rice
The preferred SWPL rice.
-arugula
Of course. :)
A couple of food items that are also SWPL:
roti
injera bread and Ethiopian stews
couscous
banana ketchup
tabbouleh
Korean BBQ
soy chicken
truffle oil
pheasant
I wasn't able to find any criticism of those studies. The main point is that the adventist vegetarian diet seems to be the cause of their above average health outcomes.
Well, they don't smoke, drink, avoid sugar and refined carbohydrates, avoid caffeine, exercise, are abstemious in terms of calorie consumption, eat fibre and maintain normal body weights. I'm almost certain think if you compare them with a control group with the same habits who also eat meat (say identical diet consumption but substituting the meat's protein and fat for some % of the carbohydrate intake in the veggie adventist group), you won't find the same results.
hummus: a delightful lunch, with a few olives and some toast.
guacamole/avocado: another delicious lunch, with pitta bread.
sushi: never had it. Could it possibly be as good as smoked salmon? Or mackerel pate? Or potted shrimps? Or taramasalata? Or Salade Nicoise?
curry: a staple - my wife's lamb curries are delicious. Eaten with basmati rice.
green tea: I drink this occasionally.
burritos and beans: never had them.
lentils: fond memories of my mother's lentil soup.
falafel: OK occasionally; I'm not an enthusiast.
arugula: we eat lots in summer - it grows like a weed in our garden. So does coriander. Yum, yum.
What was your point again? You deny yourself these pleasures? To what end? Are you a masochist?
P.S. Jay is right, unpasteurised Brie is magnificent.
Most of the foods you listed are actually delicious. Talk about being a contrarian just for the sake of it. Are you one of those people who think soccer is an enemy of middle America?
Oh and good to see you've eased up on the thesaurus. Your blog is much more readable now that it isn't littered with random low-frequency words which you learned a minute ago. You sound much more your age.
Growing up relatively poor in the West, my stepmom used to cook garbanzos and home-grown onions into felafel as a reasonable substitute for meat in sandwiches and burritos, which I loved and still love; I'm fully aware of how the obnoxious bourgeois set has commandeered my favorite foods....
My biological mother (artificially middle class, white hating SWPL archtype, very very hateable) has displayed open disgust at how my dad saved the roe from our whitefish catch, but I know she'd admire my family if we bought caviar. My stepmom (real mom, really) cooked grits. My Biomom hates that, but cooks the same damn thing and calls it polenta.
Whatever. Their a bunch of damn hypocrites.
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