No One Is Going To Read A Post This Long

What my undergrad thesis was all about. Well, a glimpse of it. 

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1  Filipino Food Culture and Geography

“Everything has a geography, food is inherently geographic.”

-Derek Shanahan (2002)

According to the Miriam Webster dictionary, the formal definition of food is, any substance that provides the nutrients to maintain life and growth when ingested. However, food is not just food eaten by human beings to nourish and strengthen the body. There are more to it than its mere biological importance and survival necessity. Various disciplines have contributed similar theories and concepts about food and its relation to society and space. In the proceeding paragraphs, we will examine related literature of food studies from authors with different disciplinary background and apply it in the Philippine context. And from there we will observe how a multidisciplinary approach will be useful in this research.

                             

Food in the most simplistic sense is consumed by human beings to survive in a day to day basis. However, this is not the whole idea of food and eating. There is more to food than for what good it does the body. Humans use food symbolically (Kittler and Sucher, 2000). In the Philippine context, food symbolizes several things: a sign of affection, kinship, social belongingness and social stratification. The preparation and consumption of food is an important activity in the Filipino society. Even if through good and bad times, the presence of food is still there, and the celebration of fiesta still must go on (Fernandez, 1994). Also, there are over a hundred of different ethnic groups with different set of food culture associated with them. There is a diversity of food

Several sociologists, anthropologists and geographers have one concept in common regarding the study of food. They all believe in the notion that the consumption of food carries with it psychological, economic, physiological, sociological and geographical meanings (Caplan, 1997; Whitehead, 1994). Although written in different scholastic jargons, food studies have one connecting concept: food is symbolical and geographical in nature, and it differs from one place to another.

Beardsworth and Keil (1997, p. 51) puts forward the notion that, “when we eat, we are not merely consuming nutrients, we are also consuming gustatory (i.e. taste related) experiences and, in a very real sense, we are also consuming meanings and symbol.” Every bite of what seems a mundane routine of consuming food, if seen in a wider sense, reinforces and binds community together. There is a great deal of importance regarding food as a tool for reaffirming cultural identity (Kittler and Sucher, 2000; Caplan, 1997). As Whitehead (1994) also believes that ‘no item of food is ideologically innocent’ within any one culture. She then argues that food is imbedded with various cultural meanings, across time, space and context. If this is the case, then it is coherent with Shanahan’s (2002) assumptions. He believes that different foods are associated with different groups of people. Moreover, Derek Shanahan, who is a geographer greatly interested with Food Studies wrote in his article “The Geography of Food” in the Journal for the Study of Food and Society:

                  Food feeds our cultural stereotypes. It is inherently geographic. It is a social

                  and cultural marker and is never devoid of meaning and significance. Food

                  and food practices denote cultural, class and moral.

                  Food Studies is a politicized entity, and is far from the benign “intellectual

                  parlor game”, the Financial Times would have us believed it to be. The sig-

                  nificance of food exceeds far beyond the human need for nourishment and

                  far into the realms of politics, culture, class and race. And a geographical

                  perspective on food is one way that can help us understand the deeply

                  rooted nature of food in the very constitution of our communities.

                                                                                                         (Derek Shanahan, 2002)

Although geography is a relatively new discipline with regards to pursuing sub-topic of Food Studies under Human Geography, its importance cannot be completely ignored in the academe. Food geography offers a holistic perspective on food and society, taking into account that food is inherently geographic and every geographical area with different culture and resources are dynamic forces which shape production, distribution and consumption of food (Sack, 1988).

2.2  Food, Family and the Home

We are all familiar with the saying “home is where the heart is” and it seems this saying connotes various sociological and geographical concepts. Home is an important space wherein we perform our daily activities. For the Filipino, home is where our private activities that of which concerns our bodily practices are carried out. Home is a sacred place for the Filipino family (Fernandez, 1994). Cooking and consumption of food are daily routines that the family does together, and this shared activity of the family plays a critical part in “constituting household relationships and identities” (Bell and Valentine, 1997, p. 61). It is food that also brings and ties a family together and here, in a certain extent, promotes common interests within them. Through food and cooking, the act of feeding is a powerful tool in establishing a relationship between parents and children. The preparation of food signifies love, affection, compassion and friendship (Bryant et al., 2003).

In addition, many scholars believe (Caplan; Beardsworth and Keil; Bell and Valentine, 1997) that the sharing of a meal or sharing of food within a family greatly helps to reinforce and maintain the family’s structure, tradition, culture. The passing of traditional Filipino recipes from the lola to the apo is not an unusual practice in the family. Family traditions are kept through the passing down of native recipes from one generation to the other. The family activity of eating together a meal in dinner table is, furthered argued by Whitehead (1994), as ‘marker of social division and demonstrates social solidarity’. It is essential for any Filipino family to eat together during mealtimes. Likewise, the dinner table is a space and site for personhood and enculturation of the family members, most especially the children, where they are taught what food are inedible and edible, table manners and etiquette (Bell and Valentine, 1997).

2.3  Gender Roles in the and Kitchen Space

In the book Geography of Home: Writings on Where We Live, Akiko Busch (1999) the author conducted a survey asking her respondents to think about home and their childhood memories. The kitchen is the second choice (next to the bedroom) where the respondents remember more of their childhood. The kitchen is also seen as a place of nourishment where their mothers and grandmothers cook home-made meals for the family. As carefully illustrated in the survey here, the role of women in the kitchen and dining space is prevalent any society across time and space. Several excellent studies were noted in the book that Caplan (1997) edited which is entitled “Food, Health and Identity”. Murcott, Charles and Kerr (British studies), DeVault’s study in the USA and Lupton’s study in Australia shows significant findings with similar patterns.  The said studies cross-cultural commonalities suggests that women remain responsible largely for the food provision, preparation and feeding the family. Likewise in the Philippines, women predominate the key activities in food preparation and consumption (Beardsworth and Keil, 1997).  Geographically, it is the women who are seen more appropriate for managing the home and provides ‘bodily care’ for the members of the family. Therefore, ‘the kitchen space is strongly defined as a woman’s space (Bell and Valentine, 1997).

The modern Filipino women’s (especially those of mother’s) participation in the labor force has repercussions on her domestic role and identity in the kitchen space. As more and more mothers are working outside of the home, less time are being spent for the meal preparation of the family. Mothers who works are said to have internal conflict about the less time spent in the kitchen, and felt insecurity with their mothers who are seen as a better role model of being a ‘mother’. On the other hand, these women also recognized the fact the newly found economic power their mothers never had (Bryant, et al., 2002).

Men’s participation in the kitchen and dining space is minimal than that of women’s. Men might usually be involved in food preparation such as assembling the ingredients for a meal, or putting the bread in the toaster (Whitehead, 1994). The assembling of food is not considered as ‘cooking’. Whiteman further argues that while men are capable of making meals for him and the family, a man cannot cook and provide a ‘proper meal’ or ‘proper dinner’ for the family. Furthermore, men’s food work usually gravitates toward the more insignificant tasks of ‘making the barbecue, beer and wine, or collecting take-away meals’ (Beardsworth and Keil, 1997). In the contemporary culture, more men are participating in the kitchen space. The primary force for this trend is women’s full-time employment in the workforce (Beardsworth and Keil, 1997). Although men are not the key provider of a ‘proper meal’, the men seem to dominate the dining space still. In a patriarchal society, men get the largest portion of a meal, and their diet sometimes varies from the rest of the family (Bell and Valentine; Beardsworth and Keil, 1997).

2.4  Construction of Food Preference in the Family

Several studies have showed that eating patterns, especially that of children, are strongly influenced by physical and social environment. Socio-economic and socio-cultural factors such as the parent’s education, time constraint, ethnicity are key variables in determining the types of food that children eat (Nicklas and Patrick, 2005). Furthermore, it is also important to observe the mealtime structure of the family as the characteristics of the mealtimes ‘play a direct role in children’s eating patterns through their behavior, attitudes and feeding style’ (Nicklas and Patrick, 2005). The study also supports the growing notion that ‘family and social environments play an important role in the development of children’s eating patterns’ and preferences. Another interesting result is how the study demonstrates similarities in food acceptance and preference between the parents and children (Nicklas and Patrick, 2005). Similar study by Olga Gritsai (2001) contend that preferences for food develop at an early age and the attitudes, economic and cultural background of the mother contributes largely to the development of the infant’s food preferences. Several variables and factors are noted in Gritsai’s study: cultural context, personal belief of the mother, values of parents, employment, income, health services and income rate.

As discussed in the previous paragraphs, mother’s role in the kitchen space is critical to what kinds of food that the family eats. Women (in general) are termed as ‘gatekeepers’ as they control the flow of food in the household and monitor what meals are to be served in the dining table (Beardsworth and Keil, 1997). In relation to this, a study by Brown et al., (1995) regarding “Women: The Key to Food Security” show that ‘employed women tend to spend their income disproportionately on food for the family’. Women’s role in structuring the family food preference and nutrition intake is critical in the family’s health.

Although a different perspective seen in Whitehead’s book (1994), another study shows that ‘the organization and character of family meals is dominated by men’s need and preferences’. In Murcott’s study of the British family (as cited in Beardsworth and Keil, 1997) resulted the ‘importance of cooked dinner and ‘proper meal’ and is geared to husband’s preference which also dictated the choice made within rigid culinary framework’. Men’s taste and preference are still the authoritative ones and could be explained through the husband’s higher income which in turn gives a sense of greater power. This will not be thoroughly discussed in the research paper, although its possibility on the survey will be recognized.

2.5  Contemporary Family and Housemaids in Urban Areas

As more and more mothers are actively participating in the labor force, contemporary Filipino families resort to hiring househelps to do domestic chores. Househelps are usually low-skilled workers that only reached low-education level. These househelps usually geographically originate from rural provinces from different rural provinces. The gender that takes on the job of househelp is women (Arnado, 2003). They are expected to do the chores in the domestic space inside the household. The househelps primarily dominate the kitchen space as they are the ones who frequently use that space inside the household. Househelps must be capable of cooking meals as they will be responsible for preparing and cooking the meal for the family. Since househelps originated from different geographical areas, her food preferences are significantly materialized in what she serves in the family. A study done by Ekzat K. Amine (1990), entitled “Expatriated Maids and Food Patterns in Kuwait” aimed to investigate how the role of the maid and her nationality affect infant feeding patterns in Kuwait. The result of her study showed that types of food that the maid serves were significantly associated with her nationality (Amine, 1990).


--a serious, hopefully not a failed attempt on Food Geography. I did my best, although I have to say this topic isn't exactly relevant to the society nor is it a big contribution to the pool of knowledge. And I also have to admit this thesis had (still has) TONS of loop holes. Oh well, papel. 


To those who are now taking Geography thesis class... think outside the box. Explore. Be innovative. Your professor is going to love you for it (my prof told me I chose a "refreshing" and "interesting" topic). Have fun with thesis! Read lots of online journals! Be inspired. Do not be afraid. :)


Also, another tip... learn SPSS software. I swear it will come in handy.