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Is "food" a social construct? (lemm.ee)
submitted 3 months ago by TimewornTraveler@lemm.ee to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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Hear me out. There's nothing innate to an object that makes it "food". It's an attribute we give to certain things that meet certain qualities, i.e. being digestible, nutritious, perhaps tasty or satisfying in some way, etc. We could really ingest just about anything, but we call the stuff that's edible "food". Does that make it a social construct?

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[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net -1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I have to agree, considering how often people meeting new people of different cultures have been known to ask "is it food?" When presented with new things that may or may not be food.

There's plenty of edible things we don't actually use as food, too. Paste is edible and just made from flour and water. But it's not food. There are cultures that eat bugs, and those that do not may not consider bugs food. What is and isn't food is somewhat determined by culture.

[-] TimewornTraveler@lemm.ee 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

that's a beautiful thing! so... mind or culture?

this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2024
-52 points (23.5% liked)

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