Hi! Welcome back to the kitchen table: academia edition! I’ve been excited to share this paper, but wanted to wait until I got my grades back, to make sure it was decent enough to share (I got an A!).
I am sharing two versions of this paper; the shorter version and the longer version. Essentially, I turned in the shorter version for one paper, then expanded on it for my final paper. The short version is in the body of this post, and the longer version is at the very end! I hope you enjoy!
The realm of food preferences and consumption patterns of individuals offers unique insights into the nuances of social distinction and exclusion. In Western societies, eating overcooked food is often a sign of low socioeconomic status. Congruently, enjoying foods such as raw oysters, a steak cooked rare, or soft-boiled eggs are social indicators of higher socioeconomic status. This paper will explore the phenomenon of undercooked food as an indicator of socioeconomic class and where it came from, drawing upon a range of theoretical perspectives from the fields of sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies. In particular, this paper will engage with the work of scholars such as Pierre Bourdieu and Jack Goody, in an effort to better understand the cultural and symbolic significance of undercooked food in contemporary society. The scope of this paper will focus primarily on this phenomenon as it is played out in the West – particularly the United States. This is to maintain simplicity of arguments due to varying cultural norms across the globe, but the resulting analysis will still have global applicability. Through this analysis, this paper aims to shed light on the complex interplay between social class, taste, and culinary practices, and to contribute to ongoing debates about the role of food in shaping social identities and hierarchies.
