Culture refers to the beliefs, knowledge, practices, and customs that people share. Culture is not an inherited behavior, but learned, and is passed from one generation to another. Each ethnic group has culturally based food habits. Contacts between different cultures have resulted into mutual influences and adaptations of traditions. Beliefs, customs, food habits, and attitudes are features of culture. Food, in particular, is a life necessity and one of the characteristics of people’s culture. Food habits act as a mode for people to identify themselves. Thus, it becomes clear why humans eat particular foods, how they get it, prepare and store. In fact, food habits of mainstream cultures are influenced by the presence of ethnic cultures.
Numerous factors affect food culture and habits of people. Some of the factors include health condition, religion and budget. Other factors determining food culture are gender, age, cultural and social backgrounds. The five most influencing factors for consumer food choice are freshness or quality, price, origin, taste, and family preferences. Considering the budget, people usually purchase what they can afford. Some desire to eat healthy foods, but are restricted since they cannot afford them. Most people choose junk food because it is always available and cheaper to buy than the healthy food. Food availability is also a determinant of people’s food habits and culture as they tend to consume what is easily available. In most cases, rare food is always expensive, thus some people avoid it. Many tend to look for seasonal foods as they are cheaper. For this purpose, food habits and culture seem to be seasonal and very flexible, but homogeneous enough to describe the identity of a community.
Individuals interact with each other as well as the environment through culture in socially constructed systems. Culture is the medium for organizing social interactions. In some communities, consuming foods that have no nutritional value is a taboo. Research shows a close link between the food options and social backgrounds. Food is an important aspect in expressing social values of particular communities and populations. Cultural influences result into habitual consumption of some foods. People adapt to foods that their ancestors used to consume and do pass the eating habits to the following generations.
Social and cultural background is one of the factors that determine eating habits, and interactions between people impact their choice of food. Socializing on constant basis makes people adopt the eating habits of others. The eating culture of the population determines its food habits. Social settings influence food culture as people consume what is obtainable. People with different values have different eating habits. The Mexican food culture is very different from that of France. However, when living in the same region, people of different origins adhere to their eating culture while adopting the new one. For instance, in certain African communities, women are not allowed to eat chicken; though, it is amenable to change, especially when they relocate to other countries.
Health and lifestyle determine food habits and culture. Persons with health problems require unique diet considerations; therefore, they are more attentive to what they eat. For example, eating habits of people suffering from diabetes are different from those of a healthy person. Products they eat are always healthy and do not include junk food. On the other hand, concerns about lifestyle have led to different classifications of people on the basis of what they eat. Vegetarians, for example, may not eat meat at all. However, some them consume animal products like eggs and milk, but not meat. Others choose to eat white meat only and avoid red meat. Therefore, such classification of vegetarians is based on concerns about lifestyle and health.
Religious prohibition on some foods ranges from nonstrict to extremely restrictive. Some religions prohibit consumption of particular foods completely or partially and regulate how they are to be prepared. What is more, it affects a person’s behavior concerning food choices. World religions comprise of different ideologies regarding diet. The most common examples are Muslims and Jews as they are not permitted to eat pork. Hindus, on the other hand, are required not to consume beef. Some religious factions consider it a sin to take wine or alcoholic drinks. There are spiritual observations, such as fasting, when a person is required to not to eat foods of animal origin during certain periods of a year. Such religious regulations may lead to the serious consequences influencing the health condition of their followers.
Another factor affecting people’s eating habits is climate change. Availability of local foods is determined by a growing season. Diverse weather regions produce different types of foods. Warm regions have approximately three to four cycles of food produce per year. On the other hand, cold regions are characterized by various food temperatures, which also impacts food production. Therefore, seasons and locality significantly affect eating habits and culture. People are forced to choose different foods in winter and summer. Geographical factor similarly plays a role in people’s eating habits. Those living around the sea tend to eat more seafood compared to the inland inhabitants. For example, Californians get fresh seafood easier in contrast to the citizens of Colorado.
Eating habits are characterized by kind of food and the ways of its preparing and consumption. The ways people prepare and eat certain foods show their belonging to particular social groups. Factors like environment, economics, culture, religion, and society in general influence eating habits. Some patterns of behavior that differ across cultures are linked to eating habits; therefore, food consumption is social. Dietary habits are habitual decisions on what foods to eat common to a particular culture. Each culture holds some food taboos and preferences due to ethical or religious reasons.
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