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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. 125–144

Chapter 7
(Un)healthy food discourses

The contradictory roles of health in food discourses and identities in the production of a TV show about food

| University of Groningen
This chapter addresses the central role of health in food discourses and identities as emerging during the production of a TV show about food. Food fulfils a range of socio-cultural functions which are essential for the construction of national, regional, ethical, gender, health, and many more identities. This chapter focuses on the dimension of health, as this becomes increasingly important in eating discourses because of the current moral imperative to live a healthy life and take individual responsibility. The analysis shows, however, that health-oriented identities and discourses are in conflict with other food discourses and identities, such as being a food lover or a sociable person who is not preachy about eating. In sum, talking about food must be understood as a multi-dimensional, often contradictory socio-cultural practice.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Food and health
    • 2.2Food, health, and identity
    • 2.3Food, health, and television
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Linguistic ethnography
    • 3.2Ethnographic context
  • 4.Analysis
    • 4.1Yes to health: The prominence of health in food discourses
      • 4.1.1Frontstage: Health discourses in the show’s content
      • 4.1.2Backstage: Health-oriented discourses during production
    • 4.2Struggling with health identities
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 18 June 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/impact.47.07dec
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