Part 27 (1/2)

The identity of food

It is the act ofthe of different proportions, of new ingredients, of new combinations that results in the food we care for sowhich humans distanced the to so the hunted animal, humans cooked it, preserved some parts for other days, learned how to combine various sources of nutrition (aniood for the body and the enerally not accounted for is the fact that the break fro is sie Consequent changes are the use of , the continuous expansion of the food repertory (sources of nourish the efficiency of production and preparation of foods, and industrial processing These changes parallel differentiations in the status of language-based practical experiences: the appearance of writing, the ematic of industrial society

With the experience of literacy, human awareness of food experienced as a necessity, and as an expression of human personality and identity, increases Claude Lvi-Strauss, a others, forcefully dealt with this subject The basic idea-of hunificant today None of the many writers infatuated with the subject have noticed that once the limatics that e of McDonalds, of synthetic nutritional substances, and of an infinity of prefabricated foods This is also the age of endless variations and combinations The human personality and identity are more difficult to characterize It is expressed in our nourish from an infinity of available cloths-our sexual behavior- free to experi possibilities: patterns of family life, education, art, and communication The infinity of choices available in the civilization of illiteracy eradicates any center, and to some extent undermines commonalty, even at the level of the species

In this civilization, the investment in self is less community-related and more an act of individual choice These choices are embodied in precise, customized diets based on individual requirerams control personalized recipes and the production of any ed totally Experiences of work, free tiressively blurred It is not clear whether one burns , but it is clear that discipline, in particular that of self-denial, is replaced by unpredictable self-indulgence

Consequently, to rity, individual diet and exercise prograh the transition from the economy of scarcity to that of consumption Illiterate subjects accept that the market decide for them what and when and how to eat, as well as what to wear, hom to pair, and how to feel The appearance is that of self-determination Independence and responsibility are not instant-mix experiences Whether embodied in fast food chains, inshows, there is an illusion of self-determination, continuously reinforced in the seductive reality of a seg partial literacies

The appearance is that one can choose fro forced into one The fact is that we are chosen in virtue of having our identity constituted and confirmatic context Awareness of and interaction with nature, already affected in the previous age of industrial processing of basic foods, are further eroded The immediate environment and the sources of nutrition it provides are assimilated in the picture of seasonless and context-free shelves at the supermarket space (where does the food come from?) and time (to which season does it correspond?) distinctions, accounted for so precisely in literacy, dissolve in a generic continuum One does not need to be rich to have access to what used to be the food of those who could afford it One does not need to be from a certain part of the world to enjoy what used to be the exotic quality of food Time and space shrink for the traveler or TV viewer, as they shrink for the super nu to fornition, brands become more important than the food The rhythms of nature and the rhythThe natural identity of food vanishes in the subsequent practical experience of artificial reality There is little that distinguishes between a ned for the team of the space shuttle, for the y calculations for a , or the cleverly simulated se of expectations

Beasts of habit, people expect some reminders of taste and texture even when they know that what they eat or drink is the result of a formula, not of natural processes This is why the aler, devised in laboratories for people in need of nourishment adapted to new conditions of life and work, will succeed or fail not on the basis of calories, but on the si This is how the new coke failed Non-alcoholic beer and wine, fat- and sugar-free ice creaetable ham, and all substitutes for milk, butter, and cream, to list a few, are in the same situation In the fast lane of the civilization of illiteracy, we expect fast food: haers, fish, chicken, pizza, and Chinese, Indian, Mexican, Thai, and other foods The barriers of ti,But we do not necessarily accept the industrial model of mass production, reminiscent of literacy characteristics quite different fro cooking cycles, consuy and especially time, that resulted in what some remember as the kitchen harmony of smell and taste, as well as in waste and dubious nutritional value, one should add A McDonalds hae of a world consu But the outlet reminds one of machines It is still a eared to offer a uniforives way to ra consumption, the restaurant is stocked with the pre-processed items on the menu None of the cooks needs to knorite or read; food preparation is on-line, in real timatics of the civilization of illiteracy overcome the current industrial model, the new McDonalds will be able to meet individual expectations no less restricted than those of the Internet pizza providers If this does not happen, McDonalds and its many imitators in the world will disappear, just as many of the mass production foodnature of the processes involved in nourish Between the natural and artificial sources of protein, fats, sugar, and other groups reco the better, of living longer and healthier, there areMany formulas for preparation follow each other, or are applied in parallel cycles After weourselves as ine stands for the brain, pump for the heart, circuits for the nervous system They are all subjected tonostic routines The end product of food production-a custoefilte fish-rese,” which is produced at the lowest possible cost in a market in which literate food is a matter of the past, a subject of ree and the expectation of adaptability and permanence associated with the nourishment of the civilization of literacy collide at all levels involved in our need to eat and drink What results from this conflict are the beautiful down-sized kitchens dominated by the microwave oven, the new cookware adapted to the fast food and efficient nourishital network into the kitchen The interconnectedness of the world takes rather subtle aspects when it comes to food

Microwave ovens can perfectly be seen as peripheral devices connected to the se, all set to feed us once we push the dials that will translate a desire, along with our health profile, into a code number

Three-quarters of all American households (Barbie's included) use a microwave oven And many of them are bound to become an address on the Internet, as other appliances already are

The conflict between literate and illiterate nourishment is also documented by the manner in which people write, draw, fil and related matters This addresses the communication aspects of the practical experience of what and hoe eat The people who could go to their back yard for fresh onions or cabbage, get meat frooat, belong to a pragmatic framework different from that of people who buy produce, meat, cheese, and canned and frozen food in a small store or a supermarket To communicate experiences that vanished because of their low efficiency is an exercise in history or fiction To communicate current experiences in nourishe , and open-endedness as they apply to communication and the e feed ourselves or are fed by others It also e a different quality

Once upon a ti was part of literature Food authorities have been celebrated as writers

But with the advent of nourishave way to a prose of recipes almost as idiosyncratic as recipes for theSoested that precision was as good for cooking as te of how close the act of cooking is to writing about it, or, in our days to the tele-reality of the kitchen, or to the new interactive gadgets loaded with recipes for the virtual reality cooking ga fantasy in the kitchen are no longer available, fantasy deserts the food pages and raames-or on Web sites Moreover, when predeters, cakes, and puddings replace the art of selecting and preparing, the writing disappears behind the inforulation, as vitamins are added to milk and cereals A super-cook defines what is appropriate, and the efficient for plants ensuring the ained is the possibility to asserate elements from all over the world without the risk of more than a new experience for our taste buds Frouaranteeing uniforiene The price we pay for this is the pleasure, the adventure, the unique experience Food writing is based on the assu shows started exploring the worlds of technological progress, in which you don't cook because you are hungry or need to feed your family

You do it for conition for redients In the post-industrial, the challenge is to break into the territory of innovation and ascertain practical experiences of cooking, presentation, and eating, freed froht to affluence

Pragmatic fras from a list Practical experiences of hu to such a pragates the previous one, but does not elih these points were made in earlier chapters, there is a specific reason for dealing with theain here As opposed to other experiences, nourishment is bound to involve more elements of continuity than science or the military As we have already seen, literacy-based for food exist parallel to illiterate nourishment This is the reason why some peculiar forms of social redistribution of food need to be discussed

Fro and drinking come withPrag cleanliness, waste, and variation in diet are also part of the experience of nourishment These associated elements- values, expectations, rules-are rarely perceived as constituting an extension of the practical experience through which huuishes itself from sheer naturalness Literacy appropriates the rules and expectations that acknowledge and support ideals and values Once expressed in the literate text, however, they appear to be extraneous to the process Changes in the condition of religion, civic education, fay, cheenetics, create the impression and expectation that we can attach to food whatever best suits the situation morally or practically The self-control and self-denial of previous pragratification

In the coht to affluence developed

Parallel to this, institutions, founded on literacy-based experiences, were set up to control equity and distribution

Against the background of high efficiency that the new pragmatics made possible, competition is replaced by controlled distribution, and the experience of self-nourish fed Absorbed by tax-supported social progra up responsibility for theical and cultural identity in the practical experience of taking care of their own needs Thus part of theis socialized, in the same manner that literacy is socialized At the same time, people's illiteracy expands in the sphere of nourishment Today, there are more people than ever who could not take care of themselves even if all the food in the world and all the appliances we knoere brought into their hoh efficiency and distribution of tasks free the hu dependencies and expectations

The problenized in all advanced countries

But the answer cannot be so-called welfare refor requirehtedness and political opportunism A different perspective is necessary, one that addressesindividual self-constitution as so other than the beneficiary of an inefficient systematics that overrides the need for literacy is based on individual empowerment As necessary as soup kitchens are under conditions of centralise and skills that individuals need in order to be able to provide for thery

”Sponsorshi+p for a charitable track event Funds for Third World countries threatened by starvation sought Register support through your donations” And on a nice sunny weekend, many kind-hearted individuals will run miles around a city or swianizations such as CARE, Oxfaer in this world of plenty, even in the USA and other prosperous countries, derives from the same dynamics that results in the civilization of illiteracy The scale of humankind requires levels of efficiency for which practical experiences of survival based on limited resources are ill suited Entire populations are subjected to hunger and disease due to social and econoes, or to political upheaval in the area where they live Short of addressing inequities, aid usually alleviates extreme situations

But it establishes dependencies instead of encouraging the best response to the situation through new agricultural practices, where applicable, or alternativefood