Extend Essay1: The Cultural Metaphors of Food

       Food is the engine of metaphorical meanings that spread throughout people’s life regardless of region and ethnics. We associated tomatoes with sin; olives can draw an equals sign with peace; noodles implicitly refer to longevity. Indeed, food can be seen as metaphors of religion, gender, family, local and national identity, and even social hierarchy (Lévi-Strauss, 489). We should not underestimate the significance of cultural metaphors of food due to the reason that they not only guide people’s food choices but also change people’s diet experience. According to Lakoff and Johnson, “the essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another” (125). It means that metaphors are not only a form of language, but also a style of human’s perception. The linguistic expressions of food and eating, whether foods are used for creating metaphors or becoming the target of metaphors, are reflecting cultures (126). In this essay, I will analyze how food metaphors have influenced the way we eat today.

        We first consider how belief influences people’s food choices. Foods are inextricably linked to religion even in the context of a crisis of faith. The metaphors of food in different religions often refer to purity, self-discipline, and sacrifice. For instance, Kashruth, the diet rules of the Jewish, is strictly distinguishes between dairy products and meats. It prohibits followers to eat pork, shellfish, reptiles, and amphibians. Based on the study of Mary Douglass, changes in diet are a prerequisite to observe and adapt the orders of the natural world to the Jews (7). The food metaphors in Jewish are obedience and order. The other example of food as a metaphor for religion is that some Muslims do not eat pork because the Holy Quran points out that pork is an unclean food, which is contrary to mental purity. Moreover, food implicitly refers to the balance of physical, mental, and spiritual in the Hindu belief system. From bean soup, vegetarian dishes, meat, fish, to golden flowers, there are more than 20 types of sauce constitute to the curry powder. The religious metaphors of food influences people’s food choices through indicating what kinds of ingredients can be used and what kinds of foods should be neglected in daily life.

       Similarly, when we consider food as a metaphor for gender, we see a great contrast between men and women upon their food choices. For instance, Korthals mentions the words of the song “Sugar, Sugar,” in his journal article, Food as a Source and Target of Metaphors: Inclusion and Exclusion of Foodstuffs and Persons through Metaphors, to explain the gender metaphor of food.

              Sugar, ah honey honey

              You are my candy girl

              And you’ve got me wanting you.

Korthals states that “sugar” is linked to women whereas “beefy” is associated with men in the United States (81). There are also other sayings like “real men don’t eat quiche,” “the man bring home the bacon,” “the man is a small potato,” “the man is meat and potato.” In contrast to women trends to eat more sweets, men become more likely to eat meats and reject to eat quiche. The gender metaphors of food influence people through building different taste preferences. In the choice of some food, people will become careful due to the gender description of the sayings or lyrics.

When our eyes transfer away from the trans-national religious belief and gender difference to a specific country or region, it is interesting to notice food can be seen as a metaphor of a group identity. According to O’donnell’s article, The Cultural Politics of Eating in Shenzhen, food can be used to differentiate people within regions and generations in China. For instance, the southern and the northern parts of China show very different eating habits. People in south areas like to eat rice, whereas people in north areas prefer to eat noodles. When the lens focuses on Shenzhen, the story of Zhang Tao and his mother is a good example to indicate food as a metaphor of group identity. The old Shenzhener, Zhang Tao’s mother, always like to eat food she used to eat in the tough time, whereas Zhang Tao, the new Shenzhener choose to try different cuisines from all over the world. To most old Shenzheners, food embodies the meaning of nostalgia. Even though the elderly and the youth living in the same community, food becomes a sign to differentiate their generations, or the time of growing up. Food is an obvious label to define different regions and generations in China. Food, thus, becomes a metaphor to show the cultural resistance. Just like the British call themselves as “beef-eaters” whereas the Japanese call themselves as “rice-eaters.” Americans use “the cream of the crop” to describe talented person and “wake up and smell the coffee” to appeal people to cheer up. People use food to define themselves and differentiate with others, proving that food is a metaphor of group identity. In this case, food metaphor decides what we eat the most.

The story of Zhang Tao and his mother asks me to recall my own experience. To me, food, or more specifically, hot pot, is the metaphor of family love and friendship solidarity. A pot of hot water is tasteless and bland thus you can decide whatever ingredients you like. My mom used to ask me to select the ingredients, no matter what I choose, she tells me I must take them seriously and passionately. I would be pleasure to try different flavors of hot pot, spicy, a clear soup, a mushroom soup, and tomato’s flavor and I firmly believe that to put different flavors in the hot pot is an epitome as I choose to study abroad, experiencing the cultural shock. I also insist the grand pot must be made of ceramic, like I must to use the finest components to complete my art project.

However, I did not know that the way my mom taught me to cook hot pot embodies her love for me. I even did not realize the moment whenever we sit around and eat hot pot together is the great happiness in my life until I had the first Spring Festival in the United States. I had to prepare for two midterm exams and I did not know a lot of Chinese people in Denver. I felt lonely until a not very familiar friend invited me to eat hot pot at his dorm. Indeed, a grand hot pot also means friendship and acceptance. I was acquainted with my best friend in Denver during the time we waited for our food. The metaphor of hot pot has enriched my life experience and the pleasure of eating hot pot becomes a metaphor for family and friendship relationship in my mind. I wanted to eat mom’s cuisine and buy all materials I need. She taught me how to cook step by step in Skype, but it was still missing some flavors. I guess what I lost is the taste of home. We always link homely dish to homesickness and link chocolate to lover. The food metaphor can create an emotional bond towards to family and friendship, making us fall in love with a specific food taste.

However, it is hard to expose that what you eat at home and what you eat with your friends symbolize your class and status. It is true that life is an entity of all sided of food, sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy constitutes the real taste of life and even the society. Eating foie gras and drinking Champagne are luxury lifestyle associated with the upper classes in America and Europe. However, the caste system in India determines that pariahs could not eat the same meal as the higher Hindu caste (Guru 9). Freedman and Jurafsky make a more in-depth research on a specific food in their journal article, “Authenticity in America: Class Distinctions in Potato Chip Advertising.” They compare nine brands potato chips and get a conclusion that food packing and food advertising reflect different consumer insights, in terms of education, health, user experience, and consumption level (5-10). For instance, they analyze linguistic complexity of inexpensive chips (56; about eighth grad level) and expensive chips (48; about tenth to eleventh grade level), which shows that expensive chips always use more complex and longer words than inexpensive chips. Expensive chips always highlight health in their packaging, in contrast to the less complex language using in inexpensive chips advertising (4).

In comparison, chocolate advertising, such as M&M’s, Ferrero Rocher, and Godiva, shows the same methodology of metaphors towards to social hierarchy. In M&M’s 2013 commercial “Love Ballad,” the Red chocolate candy is frustrated to play the piano and tell stories about his unrequited love. “He” would like to do all things for her but “he” could not accept that she only sees him as a chocolate candy. Chocolate candy has been given an independent personality, such as angry, sad, and happy. M&M’s is not only your snack, but also your playmate. If you buy M&M’s for yourself at home as a playmate, the advertising of Ferrero Rocher will tell you that they are the best status symbol to entertain friends at party. Their commercial, “The History of Gold,” introduces the professional making process of Ferrero Rocher and define themselves as to “celebrate golden moment.” In contrast, as a representative of luxury chocolates, Godiva targets directly to high consumption population in their advertising, “Godiva Chocolatier One Minute Commercial,” showed in 2010 New York Film Academy. It has an excellent consumer insight that women’s love for chocolate is much larger than men’s love. Thus, Godiva tells men that no matter in a palace or in a village, a fine box of Godiva chocolate is the best surprise and allure for her to show your love. To conclude, the moral of food and food choices symbolize people’s social hierarchy and determine people’s eating quality.

A Chinese Philosopher Lao Tzu once said in Tao Te Ching, "Governing a great nation is much like cooking a small fish"(para.60). It means that governing a country required the right "seasonings" and adjustments for successful results. This metaphor clearly illustrates the significance of food in Chinese culture. I have been thinking about what role food has played in people’s life and in different culture, whether important or casually. The essay focuses on the cultural metaphors of food, in terms of religion, gender, family, local and national identity, and social hierarchy. These terms help us to define what we eat and what we should not eat, which tastes we prefer and that foods create special emotional appeal, and they even determine people’s food habit and quality. More importantly, a common point we should not ignore is that culture guides people’s choice of food, and what we choose to eat defines who we are.

Work Cited

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Freedman, Joshua, and Dan Jurafsky. “ Authenticity in America: Class Distinctions in

Potato Chip Advertising.” The Journal of Food and Culture, Vol. 11, No. 4

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Guru, Gopal. Food As a Metaphor for Cultural Hierarchies. Philadelphia: University

of Pennsylvania, summer 2009. Print.

Korthals, Michiel. Food as a Source and Target of Metaphors: Inclusion and

Exclusion of Foodstuffs and Persons through Metaphors. The Johns Hopkins

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Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of

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Lévi-Strauss, Claude. The Raw and the Cooked. New York: Harper&Row, 1969.

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O’donnell, Mary Ann. “The Cultural Politics of Eating in Shenzhen.” The Journal of

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