Diane Seymour

This chapter examines the argument that taste is socially constructed and that the food tastes we have and the choices we make about what to eat are determined by social factors. For example, although man is omnivorous, the cultural rules governing what is defined as good to eat, the way it is prepared, cooked or not cooked, served and eaten vary between cultures in often quite dramatic ways (Scholliers, 2001), and these definitions change through time (Elias, 1978). Thus it is possible to conceive of the construction of taste as occurring within a framework of rules at different levels; the level of culture generally, including cultural rules expressed in food ways or cuisine, filtered through other layers such as region, religion, class, caste, gender, family and so on. This explains how individual tastes can be different within a family; choices are indeed different but they are made within a relatively narrow framework of possibilities provided by position in the social structure. There are in addition the influences of medical advice, the state and of food suppliers. However, this chapter focuses on the arguments concerning the influence of social class in particular.