Domestic dinner

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore contemporary representations and practices of the domestic dinner in the context of households in the process of establishing themselves and families in suburban Norway. The concept of a ‘proper dinner’ is the result of complex social and cultural processes. Cooking dinner is not only an act of caring for others, preparing a proper meal is also an act of positioning oneself. Cooking dinner is an important part of the symbolic production of socially and culturally acceptable feminine subject positions. The empirical analysis is based on in-depth interviews with 25 mothers of young children about how they think and act in their everyday dinner practice. The material shows clear limitations on individuality when it comes to dinner patterns. There is a network of social and cultural conventions that frame eating practices and distinguish between different dishes. These distinctions follow a clear temporal and spatial order. Dishes prepared from a common Norwegian ingredient, minced-meat, are used as an example of how dishes carry quite different social and cultural meanings.While there are several discourses surrounding dinner that offer different possibilities for action, some representations and practices are more ‘proper’ than others. Three distinct dinner models for proper meals are identified: the traditional, the trendy and the therapeutic.

When bad food happens to good intentions: female students' food dilemmas

“…Food consumption is part of complex social and cultural processes, which is why it is considered relevant to apply qualitative methods, allowing for an understanding of the complexity and multifaceted nature of food consumption (Bugge and Almås 2006).…”

“…Female students are interesting to examine, because shopping and cooking still appear to be gendered activities (DeVault 1991;Moisio, Arnould, and Price 2004;Bugge and Almås 2006;Carrigan, Szmigin, and Leek 2006). Nevertheless, the issue of women, food and cooking has mainly been examined within the context of children in the family (Bugge and Almås 2006).…”

“…Nevertheless, the issue of women, food and cooking has mainly been examined within the context of children in the family (Bugge and Almås 2006). By exploring female students' experiences of their food and cooking practices, in particular their food-related dilemmas, this article aims to provide knowledge on young female consumers' perceptions of their food consumption practices.…”

The role of family communication and parents' feeding practices in children's food preferences

“…It is also the activity which parents and children spend most time together (Bugge & Almås, 2006). Still, surprisingly little research has described how family members influence one another's food consumption in home-dinner contexts (Fulkerson, Neumark-Sztainer, & Story, 2006;Neumark-Sztainer, Hannan, Story, Croll, & Perry, 2003), compared with other contexts such as snacking (e.g.…”

Det sociale som performativitet – et praksisteoretisk perspektiv på analyse og metode

“…Hvornår er noget et "passende måltid"? (Bugge & Almås 2006;Moiso et al 2004). En del af empirien er produceret ved hjaelp af metoder, som er saerligt anvendelige til at producere sociale udførelser af normative forhandlinger og positioneringer, nemlig aktiv interviewning (Holstein & Gubrium 2003) i de individuelle interviews og netvaerks-baserede fokusgrupper (Halkier 2008:30-31).…”