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FOOD AND EATING AS SOCIAL PRACTICE: UNDERSTANDING EATING PATTERNS AS A TOOL FOR HUMAN BODY CONSTRUCTION
Abstract
The article reveals eating patterns as a tool for human body construction. The main contradiction in the realization of eating patterns is the contradiction between the biological nature of the human body, predetermined by genetics and heredity, and the social standardization of corporality in modern social systems. Preferred food labels the human body in the context of its normativity, the phenomenon of the normative body of a person appears. The article states positive attitude of the younger generation to alternative behavior regarding eating patterns, what allows to design corporeality. The statement based on the results of a sociological survey conducted among young women according to proprietary questionnaire (n=240) and on the results of in-depth interview (n=16). These are such models as vegetarianism, semistarvation, raw food diet, separation diet. Two models of eating behavior and its connection with the human body are distinguished. The first model is utilitarian: alternative food practices contribute to the normative body construction, increasing self-esteem of the individual. The second model is biological: alternative food practices are seen as a society-imposed construct that divides a person and his body from the environment.
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