Role Of Culture In Food And Eating Habits Media Essay

Role Of Culture In nutriment And Eating Habits Media EssayThe importance of feed cornerst iodine be attributed to the item that it is one of the most necessary and signifi mountaint outlook of human invigoration for its survival and well-being (Asp, 1999). Though the principal(prenominal) function of intellectual nourishment is to practise as an answer to hunger or physiological reasons, it alike facilitates the serve of security, status, emotions and influencing style (Hart et al., 2002). aliment overly serves as a symbol of genial acceptance, friendliness (Cope, Frewer, Houghton, Rowe, Fisher and de Jonge, 2010). In a get hold of by Mckenzie in 1986, he demonstrated that certain food choices define the level of comp some(prenominal) acceptance, societal prestige and allegiance. Food has various symbolic meanings attached to it, curiously amongst Indian societies like cultural identity, religious functions, economic wealth and status, as well as expression of pow er (Hill, 2002).Eating and food habits relates to the persons degenerativele from the time of birth (MacFarlane, A., Crawford, D., Ball, K., Savige, G., and Worsley, A., 2007). With the cultural symbolism attached to foods, ingest habits argon usually passed on to children from a very young age, so that they nates know what is good for them and what is non (hart, Bishop and Truby, 2002). Also, certain have habits argon associate to traditional and familial sentiments and hence become a centric offset of a persons life ( Remick, Pliner and Mclean, 2009). The food habits define a persons personality base on that persons traditional and cultural pattern (Barclay, Gilbertson, Marsh and Smart, 2010).The role of socialising in food choices amongst internationalist bookmansAcculturation can be be as surgery in which thither is cultural and psychological transmute as a result of interaction between two dissimilar socialisations (Sam and Berry, 2010). Present day exploreers view socialisation as an on-going parade which does not end by the dominant culture absorbing the traits of the minority (dela Cruz, Padilla and Agustin, 2000). correspond to different theoretical framework of socializing, it is believed that oer time the behavior, attitudes and habits of the immigrant population volition get molded to portray the population that they have entered (Berry, Phinney, Sam and Vedder, 2006). The migrants ill-treat foot into the immature culture with certain pre- organise assumption and their process of adaption is characterized by the presence of inherent elements of their culture as well as some of the new culture (Landrine and Klonoff, 2004).The process of absorption related to food and consume habits is rather complex, usually involving a transitory phase between traditional habits and symbols to the ones related to the new culture (Unger et al., 2004). The immigrants food and have behavior is influenced due to the differences in the types of food available and the sort is usually brought close to by modifying or substituting the aliment (dela Cruz, Padilla and Agustin, 2000). Factors ranging from ingest patterns, food woof and preparation, traditional beliefs of the immigrants, which can be influenced due to ethnicity, duration of stay, socio-economic status, knowledge and skills, call for to light the varying levels of acculturation (Barry, 2001). Also, the flip-flop in the eating habits of the immigrants can be traced as first as the post First cosmea War era, when citizenry started moving to and from different partitionings of the world (Escobar and Vega, 2000). These assemblage of immigrants took with them their traditional eating habits, so far established their own shops and restaurants, in the new culture, but the pressure of change faced by them eventually resulted in them having to alter their traditional ways of diet (Gans, 1997). Renowned anthropologist, Sidney Mintz (1994) argues about the c hange in traditional habits which was due to a shift from core-fringe-legume-pattern to those which have unnecessary sugars and fats. He says that due to the presence of certain food options easily loving than other, the immigrant groups find themselves taking those options like that of Coca-Cola.There have been some studies do on the effect of in-migration on the dietary changes of these groups. These studies plunge that in certain groups, food habits formed the last aspect to undergo change while in a few there was a man-sized degree of change that happened fast (Schmidt, 2005). In a study by Lundkvist et al., (2010), they talk about immigrants in European countries trying new foods during the early years of their stay, however a complete change in eating habits is not seen until late. There was a stepwise change in the eating habits of these groups over years.In another complexify study by Jallinoja et al., (2010) showed the degrees of random variable in which these immig rant groups take up dietary changes and that in turn affect their health. Also, it said that the varying degrees of acculturation usually differ with age, with the younger people much susceptible to change quicker than older ones.Conevey and ODwyer (2009) report in their study about the varied popularity of specific foods amongst different ethnic groups. They free-base that chicken was popular amongst people of Indian ethnic rakehell in the United Kingdom. The difference was not much in nutritional abide by but in the levels of spices and flavorings, methods of cooking and accompanying dishes. Also, they pointed out a gradual decrease over time in this groups consumption of raw fruits and vegetables because of food safety issues.These studies bring to light the fact that acculturation of the immigrant groups depends on their cultural values, which can result in a gradual or speedy change.Acculturation studies on Indian studentsThere ar about 428, 225 international students in the United Kingdom and 39,090 students out of which ar of Indian origin (UKCISA, 2011). India is the second most number of students coming in this country, only lav China (UKCISA, 2011). These Indian students come here to study in the colleges and universities. The immigration of the Indian students have picked up over the past 10 years, with a steady growth of 1.5% seen every year (UKCISA, 2011). In a study done by Hill (2002) on the food and eating habits of Asiatic students, reported that a large proportion of them gradually changed from being vegetarians to non-vegetarians over a period of five years post immigration. He also found that those students who stay for longer were more likely to undergo acculturation than those who atomic number 18 exposed to the new culture for a shorter duration.Fjellstrom (2004) reported that the acculturation of dietary habits in Asian students in the United Kingdom was unequivocal from modification of food patterns, changing over to non-ve getarians from vegetarians as well their taste sensation traditional or new cuisinesHarvey et al., studied the relation between the length of stay in the United Kingdom and the food habits amongst Indian students. They found that those students who had been here for less than 2 years preferred non-traditional foods and those who have been reenforcementing longer reported eating their traditional food more often. It was also seen that Asian students in the United Kingdom prefer to have traditional diet in social gatherings with other Asian students, where as the non-traditional foods formed a part of their typical daily diet (Mestdag, 2005). These above mentioned studies declare and insight towards the significant impact of acculturation towards food habits amongst Asian students. However, there have been very little research thus far on the food habits of Indian students in the United Kingdom.Role of culture in Food and Eating habitsNutrition, appetite, cultural and social conte xt are seen as weighty factors affecting food and health choices (Locher, Yeols,Maurer and can Ellis, 2005).cultural representations is one of the main factors that is associated with food habits, which gets expressed in the type of food preferred by the groups(Seigworth, 2000). These cultural representations have been shown to determine the food, their handling and processing into acceptable and those that are not (Delind, 2006). McGinnis (1999) in his study talked about impact the culture-specific perceptions of food and eating habits on acculturation. Murcott (1982) had examined the British perception towards food, which suggested the way in which this affected dietary changes. She reported the difference in the symbolic nature of meals, i.e. cooked or ripe meal, wherein a proper meal was characterized by lie downing of meat and two kinds of vegetables, without any accompanying sides. She said that to the British women it signified the most important meal of the day, essentia l to be healthy and that it is be taken at home, thereby to light the meanings and ideas related to food and healthy habits.Hill (2012) reported in his study that people attached different cultural reasons to their food habits. He said that food habits can relate to a number of reasons ranging from nutrition, substantiate social status, dealing with stress and tension, influencing behaviors and religious expressions. There is also separate belief that even though peoples food habits is largely individualistic, there is a degree of association to the cultural beliefs of what is acceptable and which are not (Barreiro-Hurl, J., Gracia, A., and deMagistris, T., 2010).In a separate story, Rozin (2005) mentions different determinants for food behavior and that culture and beliefs was one of them. He also said that cultural patterns was related to certain environmental conditions like geographical conditions, food availability and that social patterns were related to the support structure around in the form of friends and family. The food and eating habits of immigrations student showed an attachment towards transitional diet patterns, which served as psychological support during acculturations (Durant, 2011).qualitative and Quantitative research have been used to understand food and eating habits, with quantitative research including linear measures to assess change and qualitative research used to understand peoples perceptions and attitudes (Bonnekessen, 2010). It was seen in qualitative study that female students extend to categorize foods into healthy and un-healthy ones, with the unhealthy option signifying the cause of increase in weight, depression, independence and the healthy options to indicate well-being, familial connections (Michels and Wolk, 2002). It has been seen that the food habits of Indian students are affected by various factors like culture, economic status, attitudes and knowledge and that are different based on the region, caste and socio-e conomic status (Guthman, 2008). Also in the context of Indian cultural beliefs, food is often considered as a source of pleasure and happiness and cooking as an important aspect of daily life (Brunner, Horst and Seigrist, 2010). Food always has played an important part in the Indian culture, with eating and food habits dominating a major(ip) part of the life (Murcott, 2000).The Indian cuisine involves a complex process of preparation with consideration towards flavor, taste, color and spice contents, which epitomizes the Indian way of eating and its way of preparation and enjoyment makes it a unique food culture (Edwards, Meiselman, Ragunathan and Lesher, 2003). One of the most important part of an Indian diet is rice, which is essential and important in their daily diet (Mckevith, 2004).A meal in the Indian culture symbolizes the occasion of family togetherness, where the whole family including the relatives and friends come together, making it an important sociable event (Christak is, 2010). The traditional daily meal usually would consist of the breakfast, lunch and dinner, wherein, the dinner forms the most important meal of the day (Meiselman, 2008).These presents a picture in which one can assume that acculturation and changing food habits for Indian students in the United Kingdom would be a difficult process, considering the cultural values and the knowledge and attitudes. Research has also shown that dietary changes can also be resultant of certain food availability, prices, look pressure and new types of food (Benson et al., 2008). In order to study the acculturation amongst Indian students in Leeds Metropolitan University, the Food Patterning model (Mishra et al., 2006) and Trends theory (Berghofer, 2005).The Food Patterning model states that changes in diet is a two way process, one which persuades an individual to continue with the traditional form of diet and other argue that state (Mishra et al., 2006). This model illustrates the association of foods to different cultural context, wherein the change in food habits runs parallel to an expanse between identity and taste as its end markers. According to Mishra et al. (2006), the process of meal composition by an immigrant involves a mix of traits of traditional foods along with those from the new culture, thereby indicating an effort to bring out a balance between traditional identity and new taste. Also, they believed that even though the immigrants primarily donot change their traditional diet pattern, however it is not the same as before they came here.Berghofer (2005) in his study pertaining to acculturation process in immigration students, talks about two specific trends that are used by the students to understand dietary changes. One of which, termed as the unconsecrated trend involves understanding the change process as beneficial towards better(p) western diet however, the other trend, termed as victims of progress trend, says that the change to westernized diet is not beneficial. However, as mentioned by Berghofer, the distinction between the advantages and disadvantages are more complicated and the study of acculturation rarely points out specifically to the benefits or shortcomings.These theories and models bring about certain interesting perspective about the acculturation process of the Indian students. In a study, it was seen that the immigrant students adopted new British foods like sweets, cakes while avoiding meats, beef (De Castro, 2009). In a separate study, it was reported that the male students lack of cooking skills due to the fact of not having cooked in India was one of the factors leading to change in food and eating habits (Shetty, 2010). Also, it showed that the change magnitude Westernization of the diet amongst Indian students is seen as one of the factors for higher risk from chronic diseases like obesity, diabetes, heart disease (Shetty, 2010).So, based on these studies, one can argue that if these students fall on the Berghofers (2005) Victims of progress trend, as the change in dietary habits has been seen to lead to deterioration of their health status. These provided an useful insight in the acculturation process of the Indian students in Leeds Metropolitan University, considering the involvement of a wide variety of factors.