How Food Is Gendered?

How is food gendered? How do men or women differentiate themselves from the other gender with food? What does this accomplish in terms of identity and their relationships with their own gender and the opposite gender?

Maleness and femaleness in all cultures are associated with specific foods, and rules often exist to control the consumption of those foods (Brumberg 1988, 176-78). The genderisation of food has been occurring ever since humans walked this planet. The way in which this idea is expressed has changed in many ways between times and also between different cultures but idealistically the main concept stays the same. Men eat meat and women eat chocolate. In western cultures such as Australia and America women are obsessed with keeping fit and looking after there male partner’s food needs. However in the majority of cultures “plumpness” in women is encouraged and seen as a sign of health, wellbeing and fertility. In this essay I hope to look more deeply into how gender, the sense of ones own body and oneself, and personal empowerment or oppression are impacted by who earns, makes, prepares and controls food in communities and households.

In some cultures of Papua New Guinea there are two types of food called “koroko” and “hakeri” foods. We can use these foods as an example to explain complex gender relations. “Koroko” foods are cold, wet, soft, fertile, fast growing foods associated with females; and “hakeri” foods are hot, dry, hard, infertile, and slow growing foods associated with males. In this culture the genders stick to their food groups unless are wishing to achieve some exterior motive. It is believed among the women that by consuming the “hakeri” foods they will become more like men, strong, able bodied and among some groups it is believe to help minimise their menstrual flow. Men, on the other hand, proclaim publicly that female foods and substances are “not only disgusting but also dangerous to the development and maintenance of masculinity” But they secretly eat foods associated with females to gain their vitality and power (Meigs 1984). Strong lines can be connected between the practises of “men and women” food in this culture and the one of our own. In western society it is seen that women eat meat and “heavy” meals where as females are ideally not meant to be seen eating but when they do it is expected to be “light” and easy to eat. Such as beef, beer and potatoes for men and food such as salad, chicken and yogurt for women. Their rules about food consumption define men as powerful and women as weak. Carol Adams argues that ultimate power in western society is achieved by meat consumption, which involves the linking of women and animals and their objectification and subordination (1990). Women, Adams suggests, can rebel by becoming a vegetarian., in doing so females can assert power and self-respect whilst rejecting the ideals and dominated of men.