Theories for food taboos
reasons
cultural
socio - political
spiritual, well being of individual
reincarnation, sancity of life
highliting events
unwritten social rules that regulate group behavior
create group cohesion
safeguard exclusive rights to certain foods
unite people
reificartion of social hegemonies
focus on specific events
symbolic
functional
evolutionary psychology
behavior passed from generation to generation --> bananas
emotional reaction (disgust) conditions food aversion into food taboos
fava beans
magical reasons
cultural, spiritual belief system, ideas and symbolic reasons
rational health reasons
ractional environmental reasons
meal worms in port
protecting body from disease
totems
not only foods
food taboos are not intrinsic to totemism
class of material objects
belief that there is a special bond of every member of class
taboos related to eating different types of animals
ensure equal assess to food
material objects regarded by a culture with superstitious respect
framework of factors influencing food taboos
emic
explanation from within
insider
me
person from that culture
cultural beliefs
evolutionary psychology
etic
look from outside culture
etic - looking back in history to find a logic for taboo
resource participation
resource protection
protect humans from health hazards
rational explanation soughtfor taboo
food as sacred and profane
fails to provide explanation linking individual experience to shared beliefs
linked to danger and disgust
required understanding of the human mind and its relationship to the physical world (agency / structure)
3 processes to support food taboos
processes to support food taboos:
socially mediated ingestive conditioning - using someones experience to eat or not food
egocentric empathy - capacity to experience disgust and fear empathically
normative moralization - shared predisposition leads to patterned behaviors in group members