Part 26 (1/2)

japanese parents-to-be ht still consult an ekisha (a sort of fortune teller) in order to choose the proper nae (names should fit in order to ensure har the siricultural cycles, as both were religiously encoded in e at the discourse in a e in the discussion of the unity between inner order (of the individual) and outer order The fact that mandala, traded all over the world, once represented that order escapes their personal experience

Religions distinguished between nature and cosmos Whether explicitly stated or not, nature was seen as earthbound, the source of our existence, the provider Cosmos, beyond our reach, should not be interfered with The experience of extraterrestrial research expanded the notion of nature In today's integrated world, resources and environmental concerns also contribute to the expanded notion of nature pertinent to our activity and life Our worries about pollution of earth, oceans, and skies are not religious in nature Neither is the distinction bethat is feasible and what is desirable The Ten Commandments tell us e should not do, while the devil called desire whispers into our ears that nothing is forbidden unless we really do not care for it The relation between the wholeness of the being and its parts is subject to maintenance, just as the automobile is Once Gods were described as jealous and intolerant Now they are presented as accoeneous foreneralized pluralism, embodied in the many choices we pursue in the practical experience of self-constitution When the pragmatics of self-constitution can be based on rationality, the churches of the civilization of illiteracy are houses of secular religion

A Mouthful of Microwave Diet

Have you ever ordered a pizza over the Internet? It is an experience in illiterate cooking The ie on the screen allows clients to prepare the most individualized pizza one can think of: they decide what the shape, size, and thickness of the crust will be; which spices and how e these the way they want, layer them, and control how much tomato sauce, if any, should be used

Done? Ask your children, or your guests, whether they want to correct your design The on-line chef is open to suggestions All set? The pizza will be delivered in 20 minutes-or it's free The entire transaction is illiterate: selection is e With each choice, prices are automatically calculated and listed Addition is as error-free as it can get Taxes are calculated and automatically transferred to the IRS A voice announces over the Internet, ”Food is ready! Thank you for your order And please visit us again”

No, this is not fantasy Pizza shops and haure visibly on the Internet (still in its infancy) Their structure and functioning, as well as the expectations connected to the to the civilization of illiteracy But the picture of what people eat and how their food is prepared is more complicated than what this example conveys This chapter will describe hoe arrived at this point, and what the consequences of the fundamental shi+ft from the civilization of literacy in our relation to food are

Food and expectations

How does one connect food to literacy? In the first place, hoe eat is as important as e eat and hoe prepare it There is a culture of dining, and an entire way of viewing food-fro-that reflects values instilled in the civilization of literacy Food and eating in the civilization of illiteracy are epitomized not only by the pizza outlet on the Internet, by McDonalds, Burger King, and the frozen dinner waiting to be thrown into the microwave oven, but also by the vast industry of efficient production of pri of nutrition It is not an individual's literacy that characterizes the e and how they project their characteristics, including dietary and taste expectations, in the process

The hunger-driven priood Italian restaurant have in coical substratum of their need, expressed in the very dissi ites are identified by projecting, in the universe of their existence, natural qualities pertinent to the experience of feeding the, smell, speed, force

Restaurant patrons project natural abilities filtered through a culture of eating: taste, dietary awareness, ability to select and combine These two extremes document a commonalty of human self-constitution Nevertheless, what is of interest in the atte in the civilization of illiteracy are actually differences The nuclei of ancient incipient agriculture, which were also the places of origin forWithin agriculture, absolute dependencies on nature are changed to relative dependencies, since more food is produced than is needed for survival The food of this period is cause for some of the rituals associated with the ele it

The layers between anier, filter new experiences of satisfaction or illness, of pleasure or pain, of self-control or abuse Syriculture, power) confirainst the background of increased awareness of the biological characteristics of the species

Notation and writing contribute to the change of balance between the natural and the cultural But the difference between the primitive eater and the person aits his dinner at a table derives from the distinctive conditions of their existence

In the pragmatic framework that constitutes the foundation for literacy, expectations regarding food were already in place: slow rhythm, awareness of the environ to sex and age (the female was usually the homemaker and cook) Food preparation was characterized by its intrinsic sequentiality, by linear dependencies a was inspired and supported by the sequence of seasons, local stock, and relative immediacy of needs, affected by weather conditions, intensity of effort, and celebration pertinent to seasons or special events

In short, the relation to food was governed by the sa were

In the civilization of illiteracy, personal attitudes towards preparing food and eating, whether at homatic framework Probably more is known about food in the civilization of illiteracy than at any other tiriculture and cuisine But this knowledge does not corown and processed Hus in the civilization of illiteracy know better why they eat than what they eat It is not what is in the food that concerns many people, but what the food is supposed to do for theh the proper balance of vitamins, minerals, and protein; help people cope with residue; and, eventually, conjuresymbolisms Fashi+on extends to food, too!

People feed the to expectations different fros-hunters, farmers, craftsmen, and workers involved in pre- industrial experience

Needs are different, and food resources are different Many layers of huer in a world of co desire for French cuisine, in its authentic variations, in its snobbish forular or dietetic Pizza, spaghetti, falafel, sushi+, tortillas, cold cuts, and egg rolls figure no less on the list of choices Many filters, in the form of various taboos and restrictions, as well as personal tastes, are at work Meaning is incidentally elicited as one chooses the recipe of a celebrity cook, or decides on a certain restaurant

The hungry priricultural phase, the farmers, craftse expected only that food would still their hunger More is expected fro experience today, and soer People take it for granted that they can buy any type of food from anywhere in the world, at any tied, just as the sequence of seasons is ignored In between these two extre experience, with its own expectations

The experience of eating reflected a way of life, a way of self-constitution as civilized, progressive, literate Here are the words of Charles dickens, recorded during his visit to the United States in 1842 He gave a vivid su eastern cities (Boston, New York) as he observed theecoaches stopped for the night in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Missouri I never in my life did see such listless, heavy dulness [sic] as brooded over these hsand writing onof the hour that suain as if it had been a penance or a punish part of the banquet, I could soakplayers, and revel in their glad enjoy doith so er as a business; to eh as quickly as he can, and then to slink sullenly away; to have these social sacrareedy satisfaction of the natural cravings; goes so against the grain with me, that I seriously believe the recollection of these funeral feasts will be a waking nightmare to me all my life dickens was the epito a literate audience that had literate expectations in the experience of dining: what time meals were held, who sat where and next to who a meal should last, what topics could be discussed Literate characteristics persist in the literate frameworks of political and formal dinners: hierarchy (who sits where), the order in which food is presented, the types of dishes and eating utensils

Fishi+ng in a videolake

Many questions come to mind with respect to how, and what, and when, people eat and drink Hus still project their reality in the environical characteristics-the ability to see, smell, taste, move, jump, etc-but solasses and hearing with aid devices, but even taste and sh the appropriate chemistry, in order to buffer soarlic to tofu s is within the possibility of biocheether removed from the context of nature This is the case not just with people who are fed artificially, through tubes, pills, or special concoctions

What does this have to do with literacy? How is it influenced, if at all, by the increased illiteracy of the new condition of hu trivial An editorialist from Ger instincts, went to great lengths to explain the alienation of nourishe The final scene he described is comic and sad at the same time Some artificially obtained nutritive substance, molded in the shape of fish, is fried and served to a video- literate who eats the food while watching a videotape about fishi+ng The ersatz experience of tele-viewing is probably disconnected from the experience of river, trees, sunshi+ne, and fish biting the hook, not tostocks of fish is one reason e can no longer afford the nourishment that results from direct involvement with nature Not everyone can or wants to be a hunter, a fisherman, or a faries it helps express, would lead some to believe that this is possible, even desirable But o unnoticed, even by those still clinging to the continuity and permanency embodied in literacy

Values, rules, and expectations such as health considerations, efficiency, and taste are erams and procedures for which ned, and waste reprocessed It ht make soe caloric intake is the result of artificial synthesis and genetic engineering Louis de Funs (in a 1976 French film directed by Claude Zidi) almost wound up as part of the food processed at Tricatel, a new factory that produces tasteless food based on the rules and looks of French cuisine, which the factory effectively under as a food inspector, has to decide what the real thing is and what is the fake Co of Taste, under the aegis of the Minister of Culture, was set up to encourage French students in primary schools to rediscover the true national cuisine That such a program parallels the effort of the Acaduage is a convenient argu the interdependence of the ideal of literacy and that of haute cuisine

The 's relation to food and technology Eating so reminiscent of a fish, whether faria for fishi+ng is not an exception In the azines and television shows present iht enjoy in a few months, there is a virtual space for every practical experience we gave up in order to satisfy our desire for more at the lowest price The torown, ripens faster, is perfect in form, and tastes almost like we think it should

Irony and science fiction aside, we are indeed engineering proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitaned to opti and enhance his or her performance This can be seen as a new phase in the process of transferring knowledge pertinent to nourish mediuical, genetic-of the civilization of illiteracy Having in e of where we currently stand and the direction in which we are heading, we can trace human self-constitution with the practical experience of food