Are We What We Eat? Food Metaphors in the Conceptualization of Ethnic Groups

Abstract

Speakers of English often understand ethnic and racial differences in terms of food imagery. It is quite common in this language to encounter metaphors presenting different groups of people in terms of beans, rice, bread, cheese, apples or chocolate. Given the cognitive and social force of metaphor in our understanding of the world and of ourselves as well as the important role language plays as a channel through which ideas and beliefs are transmitted and perpetuated, such food images may offer a window on the (de)construction of ethnic identi-ties and, ultimately, hide racist views against others who are different because of their skin color, physical features, languages and, obviously, diets.

Spice talk: An Orientalist register in Nigella Lawson's cooking shows

“…The exotic, “culinary Other” often surfaces in “foodie discourse,” and Johnston and Baumann (2014, p. 87) maintain that this frame “builds on and reproduces certain neo‐colonial inequalities, while at the same time representing a cosmopolitan interest in broadening the culinary canon and forming intercultural connections.” As Fellner (2013, p. 244) maintains, “the marketing of exotic foods as pleasurable delights has become commonplace,” which can be situated in bell hooks's (2015, p. 21) potent indication that “within commodity culture ethnicity becomes spice, seasoning that can liven up the dull dish that is mainstream white culture.” For instance, Veri and Liberti (2019, p. 122) capture how “ethnic food” serves as a marker of the racial Other in cookbooks, often serving to “reify racial and ethnic stereotypes and generalizations.” López‐Rodríguez (2014) similarly outlines how food functions as a site for the enacting of nationalism and the demarcation of us vs. them , allowing for the reproduction of racist metaphors through their embedding in food, just as Wagner (2007) spells out how food in the context of “boutique multiculturalism” can symbolize the “consumable exotic.” Oh and Oh (2017, p. 705) argue that food vlogs by White expatriates living in South Korea can be understood within a framework of White supremacy that generates clout through the consumption of “exotic, ‘authentic’ flavors.” Finally, Leer and Kjær (2015), in the analysis of two British “travelogue” cooking programs—Jamie Oliver in Italy and Gordon Ramsay in India—maintain that the pursuit of “authentic ethnic food” serves primarily as a means of reinforcing intercultural difference and upholding social hierarchies. A salient theme emerges: “ethnic food,” often marked by the presence of “exotic” spices, is discursively constructed in food media as the food of the Other, and these media and the patterns of commodification and consumption they depict have material effects in that they reproduce systems of social and racial inequality.…”

“…For instance, Veri and Liberti (2019, p. 122) capture how "ethnic food" serves as a marker of the racial Other in cookbooks, often serving to "reify racial and ethnic stereotypes and generalizations." López-Rodríguez (2014) similarly outlines how food functions as a site for the enacting of nationalism and the demarcation of us vs. them, allowing for the reproduction of racist metaphors through their embedding in food, just as Wagner (2007) spells out how food in the context of "boutique multiculturalism" can symbolize the "consumable exotic." Oh and Oh (2017, p. 705) argue that food vlogs by White expatriates living in South Korea can be understood within a framework of White supremacy that generates clout through the consumption of "exotic, 'authentic' flavors."…”

Symbolic Representation and Cultural Meaning in Culinary Vocabulary Processed Marine Products in Anyer Beach Ecoturism Area

“…In recent years, there has been much research related to traditional food or local culinary from various aspects. For example, a number of studies examining food in relation to language have been carried out by many researchers in various languages of the world, for example, vocabulary related to cooking (Lehrer, 1972); eating and drinking activity verbs (Newmans, 2009); eating in Chinese (Zhengdao, 2010); flavors and spices of cuisine in Southeast Asia (Enfield, 2011); food metaphor (Lopez, 2014); the culinary vocabulary of the Tatar people (Nurmukhametova & Sattarova, 2015); and culinary linguistics of Filipino food and language (Jabonillo, 2016). In addition to these studies, there are other studies, namely culinary practices and terminology in the Kashmiri language (Sheikh & Shabina, 2016); traces of the taste of the archipelago (Rahman, 2016); development of the red soy milk (sufu) lexicon (He, Chen, & Chung, 2018); traditional food in the perspective of Culinary Linguistics (Fitrisia, et al, 2019); Sundanese culinary (Gardjito, Pridia, & Millaty, 2019); the culinary treasures of the Cirebon Sultanate (Darwis, 2019); traditional spices and cooking utensils in Balinese (Kasni & Budiarta, 2020); naming the culinary Mandailing (Rahmawati & Mulyadi, 2021); names of banana processed foods (Mahendra, Azzahra, & Khasanah, 2021); multimodal discourse on food through narrative analysis (Pang, 2022); preservation of the culinary traditions of Romanian citizens in Parma (Italy) (Casangiu, 2020); the traditional culinary lexicon of the people of Pandeglang Regency (Rosidin, Muhyidin, and Riansi (2021); and publication of research results on traditional culinary arts in the context of tourism in Indonesia (Darsana & Susanti, 2022).…”

Symbolic Representation and Cultural Meaning in Culinary Vocabulary Processed Marine Products in Anyer Beach Ecoturism Area

“…In recent years, there has been much research related to traditional food or local culinary from various aspects. For example, a number of studies examining food in relation to language have been carried out by many researchers in various languages of the world, for example, vocabulary related to cooking (Lehrer, 1972); eating and drinking activity verbs (Newmans, 2009); eating in Chinese (Zhengdao, 2010); flavors and spices of cuisine in Southeast Asia (Enfield, 2011); food metaphor (Lopez, 2014); the culinary vocabulary of the Tatar people (Nurmukhametova & Sattarova, 2015); and culinary linguistics of Filipino food and language (Jabonillo, 2016). In addition to these studies, there are other studies, namely culinary practices and terminology in the Kashmiri language ( (Darsana & Susanti, 2022).…”