One of my favorite examples of social construction is that we eat hot links for breakfast and pork chops for dinner. Both pig, but morning sausage seems odd in the evening and pork chops for breakfast would be a decidedly deviant sunrise treat.
A pretty set of photos at The New York Times illustrates this social construction of breakfast food by highlighting the first meal of the day for children in seven parts of the world. It would be fun — for those of you teaching classes — to show some of them to students and ask them to guess (1) the meal of the day and (2) the age of the eater. Here’s one example:
Chitedza, Malawi: cornmeal porridge with soy and groundnut flour; deep-fried cornmeal fritters with onions, garlic and chiles; boiled sweet potato and pumpkin; juice of dried hibiscus and sugar.
See the rest at The Times.
See also our Social Construction of Flavor Pinterest board. Lots of neat stuff there!
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 12
Sarah T. — October 22, 2014
I've been living in the south for too long - pork chops for breakfast (cut wafer-thin and pan fried) seems perfectly acceptable to me, along with another country favorite: steak and eggs.
Bernardo — October 22, 2014
Let them also guess 3) social class of the eater. These seem all quite rich (in double sense) to me. Except maybe the one from Sao Paulo. I'm not familiar with Malawi, but in West African countries Hibiscus juice is a treat that you only do when you have enough money. Same goes for sweet potato and pumpkin, at least in neighbouring Zambia.
Bill R — October 22, 2014
Lisa, a perfect example of social construction!
guest — October 23, 2014
A friend of mine who was a foreign service officer used to say she could handle all kinds of weird food for state dinners etc. but would freak out if she had to deal with anything but American breakfast--and apparently that's common. Breakfast seems to be our most culturally determined meal.
mimimur — October 23, 2014
Is there a point to the plates and backgrounds other than stereotypes?
Stacey — June 30, 2023
The fact that we eat hot links for breakfast and pork chops for dinner is one of my favourite examples of social creation. slope game
Frederick Steele — September 30, 2024
Simple examples and a friendly tone make this post easy to digest. The visuals are well-used to reinforce the content without distracting from the key message.
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