Social stigmas in Food: A Source of Socio-political Conflict

Abstract

The lifestyle choices of the present day humans have made their life more complex. Basic necessities of people like food, shelter and clothing seem to be hugely politicized. Early humans, whom we unfortunately call primitives, consumed food for their physiological needs and benefit; but the ‘civilized’ human often seems to use food to exhibit his/her social standing. So, there is a conscious hierarchisation using food in the social sphere. The advertisements for food items deliberately create a class/ caste divide in order to indulge in the process of ‘othering’. This paper titled Hierarchisation of Food: A Source of Socio-political Conflict will argue that food, more often than not, becomes a ‘class signifier’ thereby keeping the class/caste conflict alive. As a result we find the pseudo food-culture propaganda propagating mindsets which lead to segregation and its natural consequence victimization. In the Indian context the Dalits are an important group of people who are subjected to this kind of maltreatment using food. Financially disadvantaged and socially underprivileged, they are deprived of “good” food. This paper endeavors to question the ‘order of hierarchy’ followed in serving dishes even in the postmodern age on the basis of class and caste distinctions.