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Part of
Talking about Food: The social and the global in eating communities
Edited by Sofia Rüdiger and Susanne Mühleisen
[IMPACT: Studies in Language, Culture and Society 47] 2020
► pp. 35–56

Chapter 3
The moral taste of food

A discourse analysis of social media discussions about vegetarianism and veganism

| University of Bayreuth

This paper analyses discussions about vegetarianism and veganism in francophone social media groups where moral statements play an important role. It sketches a communicative conception of morality as ‘doing ethics’ that zooms in on how morality emerges and is negotiated in interaction by concentrating on linguistic practices that key morality. Based on two case studies, it examines controversies about moral values of food which offer insights in the more general machinery of moral discourse. The data reveal different linguistic techniques which are frequent in, although not specific to, moral discourse. In particular, these are evaluations, pejorative or upgrading lexicon, deontic modality, generalisations, typical speech acts like advice or instruction as well as semantic and structural forms of intensification.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Vegetarianism and veganism
  • 3.Doing ethics
  • 4.Data
    • 4.1Data collection
    • 4.2Contextualization of the social media discussions
  • 5.Two case studies: Honey and French fries
    • 5.1Is honey health food?
    • 5.2Are French fries junk food?
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgement
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 18 June 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/impact.47.03dre
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