Food is intimately related to aspects of gender and studying food within its cultural context reveals a great deal about how gender is constituted and actualized (Innes xii). People develop symbolic relationships between themselves, their worlds and the foods they eat (Innes 2001a:xiii). Gender matters in food centered activities as it does in structuring human societies, their histories, ideologies, economic systems and political structures (Moore in Counihan & Kaplan 1998:1). Food centres on the relationship between sexes, gender definitions and sexuality itself. Eating is a sexual and gendered experience. For example, steak and meat are two foods that are often associated with men and "maleness". Or, barbequing and beer are yet another two foods that are "male-oriented". Concepts of maleness and femaleness in all cultures are associated with specific foods and there are rules that often exist to control the consumption of those foods (Counihan 1999:10). Some of the primary questions posed in food and gender studies has been how issues of food production, distribution adn consumption contribute to men and women's power and social position and how food symbolically connotes male and femaleness.
It has been argued by some scholars that cooking and baking are realms whereby women can symbolically empower themselves (Counihan 1999:12). Power relations around food mirror the power of the sexes in general (Counihan 1998:4). Whereas men's economic status is demonstrated by their control of foodpurchasing, women wield considerable power in all cultures by their control of meal planning and cooking (Counihan & Kaplan 1998:4). Because women are directly involved in the production, preparation and distribution of food, and are literally, "putting food on the table", women become the quintessential nurturer and provider. As actors in this role, they experience a sense of autonomy in being able to prescribe certain foods for certain occasions, using one's discretion with menu planning, food preparation itself and being able to dictate the contents of a meal (Oakley in Murcott 1997).
Food is a medium of exchange, connection, communication and distinction between societal actors (Counihan & Kaplan 1998:3), and as such, it is an effective medium for conveying a wide variety of sentiments, including gender statements. Many scholars suggest that food and food related activities are realms in which social and cultural identities are renegotiated, contested and claimed (Blend 2001:41). Through culinary innovation, men and women can transform and generate new identities and conceptions of gender. Gender is heavily intertwined with food and food and food culture are integral transformative trends and processes that shape our lives.
Food is essential to life and must enter our bodies daily in substantial amounts if we are to live. Because of our dire need for it, food was and continues to be power in a most basic, tangible and inescapable form (Arnold in Counihan 1999:7). There is no more absolute sign of powerlessness than hunger. Maleness and femaleness in all cultures are associated with specific foods and rules controlling their consumption. For example, steak, beef and barbequing are associated more with men in Western cultures than women. Or, for example, the Hua of New Guinea associate hot, dry, hard infertile and slow growing foods with men and cold, wet, soft fertile fast growing foods with women (Counihan & Kaplan 1998:7). Between men and women, food is a means of differentiation as well as a channel of connection. By using food as a voice and by claiming different roles in reference to specific foods and distinct attributes through identification with specific foods, men and women define their masculinity and feminity, their similarities and differences (Counihan & Kaplan 1998:7). cultural actors can employ food and food metaphors to achieve power. Men can exert poewr over women by refusing to provide food or by refusing to eat or disparage the food that has been cooked. Women can exert power over men by refusing to cook, controlling their food or manipulating the status and meaning systems embodied in foods (Counihan & Kaplan 1998:7).
Food carries messages about social status and the relations between people. It reflects and symbolizes social relations and plays a part in cementing and reinforcing social relations (Charles and Kerr 1988:4). As food reflects social status it also carries its own social values. As such, the consumption of specific foods is also integral in reinforcing and creating gender conceptions. For example, rugged tough men eat steak and dainty women eat salad. In an episode of Seinfeld, Jerry orders a salad for dinner and immediately, his dinner companion, questions his masculinity. While these may be antiquated examples, they do nevertheless illustrate that specific foods are invested with specific meanings that transfer to the consumer of such goods.
According to some feminist anthropologists (see Ortner, Rosaldo, Lampere), there exists a public vs private dichotomy between sexes that is correlated with culture vs nature respectively. In analyses of earlier ethnographic texts, women were seen as being in touch with nature because of their reproductive roles and men in touch with culture, technology and systems of thought. Because cooking and baking were in the realm of the kitchen, a space that itself epitomizes the private realm because of its ability to sate cultural and bodily sustenance, women, who were the majority gender within the kitchen were also associated with the private realm. Simply, baking and cooking were seen as "women's work" (Murcott 1997) and the kitchen was seen as a culturally demarcated space. As a result of providing sustenance, nutrition and food, women were constructed as being closer to nature; their nurturing, their concern and their desire to please their families (Murcott) was a testament to this. This association with culture resulted in the subordination of women and sexual assymetry (Ortner, Rosaldo & Lampere). Since the 1970s, when this nature vs culture debate first raged in anthropological studies, it has since been criticized for its generalizations and inapplicability to non-Western cultures.
In Hunter-Gatherer societies, women did the gathering of fruits, berries and vegetables and men hunted for meat. In contemporary times, the roles are less rigid and demarcated. Women and men both venture forth in the world to feed their families and both genders are now in the kitchen for food preparation. It has been argued, based on Marxist thought, that food production is a determining factor in the development of gender relationships. If a society values one mode of production over another, then it's quite possible that, that society values the gender associated with the "higher" mode of production. For example, the women of the Agta of the Philippines participate in all subsistence activities that men do, thereby creating equality between the sexes. In contemporary society, preparing the bread is often not seen on par as 'earning the bread' and gender relationships are often shaped by the attitudes surrounding the varying modes of production. Food and its preparation and production are strongly gendercoded as feminine, and it is this gender code that has been a significant form of gender socialization throughout the 20th century (Innes 2001:1).
Blend, Bernay. 2001. "I am an act of kneading: food and the making of chicana identity". in Cooking Lessons:The Politics of Gender and Food. New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers. Pp. 41-61
Charles, Nickie & Marion Kerr. 1988. Women Food and Families. Manchester: Manchester University Press
Counihan, Carole M. 1999. The Anthropology of Food and Body. New York: Routledge.
Counihan, Carole M. & Steven Kaplan. 1998. Food and Gender: Identity and Power. Canada: Harwood Academic Publishers
Innes, Sherrie. 2001. American Women and Culinary Culture. Iowa: University of Iowa Press.
Innes, Sherrie. 2001a. Cooking Lessons:The Politics of Gender and Food. New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers
Murcott, Anne. 1997. "It's a Pleasure to Cook for Him". Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
