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Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom: Excursions Into Eating, Culture, and the Past

Article  in  American Ethnologist · January 2008

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Carole M. Counihan
Millersville University
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include
includethe
theessays
essays
byby
Levy,
Levy,
Borofsky,
Borofsky,Moore,
Moore, Kottak and consumption of food provided a taste of free-
Kottak
and
and Colson,
Colson,andandTambiah.
Tambiah. dom even under the horrific conditions of unfree-
Overall,
Overall,the
thecontributors
contributors
succeed
succeed
in their
in their
goal goal
of ofdom that characterized most of their lives. For ex-
stimulating
stimulatingdebate:
debate: I certainly
I certainly found
found
myself
myself
thinking
thinking ample, slaves practiced a kind of "free" economy
critically
criticallyabout
aboutmany
many ideas.
ideas.I recommend
I recommend this this
volumevolumeby harvesting their own gardens and exchanging
as
as aa reference
referencebook
book toto professional
professional anthropologists
anthropologistsproduce at markets. Furthermore, enslaved Africans
and
and any
anygraduate
graduatestudent
student with with
an interest
an interest in mattersfashioned their own unique cuisine out of foods
in matters
anthropological;
anthropological;I can I can also
alsoseesee
thethe
usefulness
usefulness of thisand combinations "from all over the world" (p. 38),
of this
volume
volumeforforcourses
courses ononthethehistory
historyof theory
of theory or ethnog- and through this cuisine forged an identity of their
or ethnog-
raphy.
raphy. I Iwould,
would,however,
however, advise
advise
instructors
instructors
of under-
of under- own. Even while struggling constantly against star-
graduate
graduatestudents
studentswho who useusethisthis
texttext
to provide
to provide
accom-accom-vation, slaves exercised "a special sort of auton-
panying
panyingethnographies
ethnographies to to
flesh
flesh
outout
the the
moremore abstractomy" in their cooking. Furthermore, through pro-
abstract
concepts
conceptsand
andtotodiscuss
discuss
with
with
students
students
the the implica-duction of delicious foods for themselves and slave
implica-
tions
tions of
ofusing
usingsome
some
phrases-such
phrases-such
as "savages"
as "savages"
(p. (p.owners, they affirmed their self-worth as skilled
13),
13), "private
"private(that
(thatis,is,
mental)
mental)
activity"
activity"
(p. 249),
(p. 249),
"evo-"evo- cooks. Mintz's description of food under slavery is a
lutionary"
lutionary"(p. (p.468),
468), and
and
"exotic
"exotic
others"
others"
(p. 475)-that
(p. 475)-thatparticular telling case emphasizing the significant
are
are uncritically
uncriticallyscattered
scatteredthroughout
throughout the the
text.text. role of food in identity, memory, and history.
In several essays, Mintz explores other aspects of
sugar. He uses a political-economy perspective to
Tasting
TastingFood,
Food,Tasting
TastingFreedom:
Freedom:
Excursions
Excursions describe sugar's competition with and eventual
into
into Eating,
Eating,Culture,
Culture,and
and
thethe
Past.
Past.
SIDNEY W. W.conquest of honey. He relates the morality of sugar
SIDNEY
MINTZ. Boston: Beacon Press, 1996. xix + 149 consumption to the increasing individualization of
pp., index, works cited, notes. ideas about the body and the self during the period
of growing commodification of foodstuffs. He fo-
cuses on marzipan to discuss sugar's relationship to
CAROLE M. COUNIHAN
our opposing notions about "purity," which signi-
Millersville University
fies on the one hand "naturalness" and, on the
other,
This thought-provoking and well-written book"scientific cleanness." Scientifically proc-
consists of eight essays-some new, someessed and refined sugar is combined with natural
previ-
ously published-by Sidney Mintz, a pioneeralmonds in the to make marzipan which in its whiteness
historical-anthropological study of food habits. symbolizes purity and resolves the symbolic contra-
dictions.
Well-known for his study of the commodification
and worldwide expansion of sugar, Mintz has In two essays, Mintz defines cuisine and ques-
writ-
ten widely on foodways. In these essays, he tions takes whether the United States has a cuisine at all.
a
broad comparative and political-economy Mintz distinguishes "haute" from regional cuisines.
ap-
proach to offer ideas about food and power Theas former
re- involve national amalgams, elite ingre-
vealed through sugar and honey consumption, dients,
no- and restaurant chefs. But regional cooking
tions about "purity," and the cuisine of enslaved systems, Mintz argues, are the only true cuisines be-
Africans and modern Americans. cause they emerge from "people using ingredients,
Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom is about howmethods, and recipes on a regular basis" to create
foods come to have meanings that reveal muchmeals and meaning (p. 97). Mintz thinks that in the
about being human and change over time in re-United States we do not have a cuisine, even
sponse to political and economic forces. Mintzthough many of us eat a diet based around similar
makes his points in broad theoretical fashion andproperties: high sugar and fat, processed foods, lots
then illustrates them with one or two cases taken of meat, and few fresh fruits and vegetables. "Such
mainly from his work on sugar or the research offood," writes Mintz, "would not succeed if Ameri-
historians; few anthropologists are listed in the bib-cans cared more about how and what they ate. That
liography. Mintz proposes that the dynamic be-they do not is a fact of great importance; it implies
tween "inside" (or domestic) and "outside" (or pub- not only that they lack a cuisine, but also that they
lic) meanings of new foods determines how theyprobably will never have one" (p. 121). Rather than
change. He draws on his own work on the growth cuisine, we have gluttonous consumption-of food
of sugar consumption among the British workingand everything else. The danger, Mintz warns, is
class and historical studies on the spread of Coca-that not only are we exporting our consumption to
Cola in World War II to argue that the "interior em-the rest of the world and destroying regional cui-
bedding of significance in the activity of daily life"sines, but our greedy consumption also threatens
(p. 21) leads to the accommodation of such broaddemocracy by legitimating massive inequality.
economic and political changes as the massive Mintz has written a successful book that ap-
sugar trade and the Army's wholehearted support ofproaches food from the perspective of historical po-
the export of Coca-Cola to wherever there were litical economy. He does not try to encompass
G.l.s in World War II. other approaches, and I particularly missed a focus
The title essay "Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom"on gender that feminists have shown can be par-
explores food changes and meaning among en-ticularly fruitful in studying foodways. For example,
slaved Africans in the Caribbean. I found this the did the fact that enslaved African women were ordi-
most compelling chapter in the book, both for itsnarily more fully occupied with cooking than men
detailed argument and for its fascinating idea. Mintz give the women a richer sense of self-worth or a
argues that for enslaved Africans in the New World, greater ability to influence others? Did the fact that
the production, processing, distribution, cooking,in some places, Sicily for example, not simply

reviews 27

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 women
womenbut but nuns
nuns in particular
in particular
were were
the main
thepro-
main pro-knowledge
knowledge(is (isthere
thereanyany other
other
kind?)
kind?)
is emotional,
is emotional,
ducers
ducersofofmarzipan
marzipan contribute
contributeto itsto
association
its association
social,
social, and
andpolitical.
political.It It
is is
learned,
learned,
extended,
extended,
and and
re- re-
with
withpurity?
purity? Does
Doesthethe
factfact
that that
women women
are often
aretheoften fined
the in
fined inpractice,
practice,andandremains
remainsincomplete
incompleteand and
con- con-
molders
moldersofof "inside"
"inside"andandmenmen
of "outside"
of "outside"
meaningsmeanings
tingent,
tingent,allowing
allowingpossibilities
possibilitiesforfor
innovation.
innovation.
affect
affectpatterns
patterns of of
foodfood
change?
change?
In spite
In of
spite
wishing
of wishing Another issue is the interactive nature of various
that
thatMintz
Mintz had
hadthought
thoughtfurther
further
about about
gender,gender,
I en- I processes.
en- In examining human development in
joyed
joyedhishisbook
bookandandthink
think
it will
it find
will an
find
eager
anaudi-
eager audi-
their articles, Sara Harkness and Peggy Miller and
ence
enceininthe
thegrowing
growing field
field
of food
of food
and culture.
and culture. Lisa Hoogstra challenge earlier, more passive, and
bounded formulations, calling for attention to
learning as actively constructive and to the meta-
communicative issues that arise as children and
New
NewDirections
Directionsin in
Psychological
Psychological
Anthropol-
Anthropol-
caretakers participate in contextualized discourse.
ogy.
ogy.THEODORE
THEODORESCHWARTZ,
SCHWARTZ,
GEOFFREY
GEOFFREY
M. M.
The idea of the importance of examining the mu-
WHITE, and CATHERINE A. LUTZ, eds. Publi-
tual constitution of seemingly separate entities runs
cations of the Society for Psychology Anthro-
through the book. James Chisholm and Carol
pology 3. Cambridge and New York:
Worthman as biological anthropologists nicely dis-
Cambridge University Press, 1992. x + 349 pp.,
index. mantle the idea that there is a universal ground of
biology that provides a base for cultural elabora-
tion. Evolution is fundamentally interactive as adap-
ERNESTINE McHUGH
tation takes place in specific contexts; the brain and
University of Rochester
body are substrates of experience but they develop
This book is a model of what anthropologyin atinterplay
its with culture.
best can be. It captures the vitality and power In
of further
a attending to context in the section on
psychiatric anthropology, Byron Good, Robert
series of exchanges about the aims of psychological
Levy,
anthropology, its methodologies, and its relations toand Nancy Scheper-Hughes all argue against
the narrow medicalization of distress and make
other disciplines and subdisciplines. Not restricted
by a narrow focus, the book reaches out from clear a
the need for anthropologists to provide an un-
derstanding of meaning and situation that properly
clearly defined center to address issues broadly
represents the complexity and political embedded-
relevant to anthropologists and to those concerned
with persons-in-culture in other disciplines. The nessar-
of the conditions of suffering and its dominant
ticles are critical and daring, demanding thatinterpretations.
con-
ventional boundaries and limited definitions be set Ideas of interpretation and constructions of self
aside to further deeper understandings of varieties and relationship in psychoanalysis are examined in
of human experience. different essays by Katherine Ewing, Bertram Co-
The volume includes an introduction by Geoffrey hler, and Vincent Crapanzano. They demonstrate
White and Catherine Lutz, followed by six sections that the current concerns of psychoanalysis speak
to issues at the heart of anthropology having to do
with 16 essays representing different aspects of psy-
chological anthropology. These sections address: with the engagement and understanding of others,
(1) cognition, (2) human development, (3) biologi- with all their political and moral implications. Psy-
cal perspectives, (4) psychiatric and medical an- choanalysis can address these with insight and so-
thropology, (5) psychoanalytic approaches, and (6) phistication providing valuable conceptual tools,
historical and interdisciplinary overviews. The es- not only for psychological anthropology but also for
the broader discipline.
says grew out of three years of sessions of "appraisal
and prospectus" of psychological anthropology or- In the final section, George Stocking historically
ganized by Theodore Schwartz and presented situates at psychological anthropology in the larger
the meetings of the American Anthropological As- discipline through an examination of Franz Boas's
sociation. The articles are carefully and rigorouslywork, in which Boas gave it, for a long period, pri-
developed and the dialogue out of which they grew macy of place. Theodore Schwartz explores the re-
is reflected in the strong integration of the volume.lation of anthropological ideas to other disci-
Ideas converge and critiques develop as the essaysplines-psychology in particular-and brings
unfold. To read the book is like witnessing a con-under scrutiny the isolation of the discipline and the
versation that becomes more complex and deeper methodologies and rhetoric that perpetuate that
condition.
as further lines of thought are included. Some con-
nections are elaborated and others are powerful but In reading Schwartz's essay I was struck by the
evidence that many of the challenges to essentializ-
implicit, provoking the reader to engage in the dis-
course by teasing them out. ing concepts, monolithic definitions, and false di-
Several issues emerge in this conversation. One chotomies-challenges
is that are consonant with
the importance of questioning dichotomous totaliz- current debates in anthropology and that open re-
freshing new possibilities for critical engagement
ing categories such as "internal and external," "cul-
ture and personality," and "behavior and thought." and synthesis-were present in his earliest work. It
In addressing cognition, Geoffrey White, Roy D'An- is a credit to his vision and to the imagination and
drade, Janet Dixon Keller, and Dorothy Holland all rigor of the contributors that they are realized so
elegantly in this volume.
assert, from different perspectives, that the organi-
zation of knowledge cannot be properly under-
stood as independent sets of constructs existing in
the minds of individuals. Ideas have motivational
Culture and Change: An Introduction. LARRY
L. NAYLOR. Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey,
force; they are learned in interaction. Cultural

28 american ethnologist

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