The relation between what people eat, how they prepare their
food, how they serve and how they eat it, is accounted for in
language, especially in its literate use, in many ways.
Experiences of our continuous constitution through work, personal
life, habits, defense, and aggression are expressed through
language and other manifestations of our nature and culture. The
same holds true for such peculiarities as the way people eat,
entertain, dress, make love, and play. Language, as one among
many expressive means, is a medium for representation, but also
for diversifying experiences. It supports the research of new
realms of existence, and participates in the maintenance of the
integrity of human interdependencies as they develop in work,
leisure, and meditation.
When the question "Why are there fewer alcoholics in China,
Korea, Japan, and India?" was asked, answers were sought in
culture. Reformulated as "Why can't Asians tolerate alcohol?"
the question shifted the focus from what we do or do not do- the
filters of exclusion or preference-to biology. Environmental,
cultural, social, psychological, and cognitive characteristics
can be acknowledged once the biological substratum is brought to
light. Many people of Asian origin display an intolerance to
alcohol that is due to a metabolism peculiar to their race. The
intolerance to alcohol is associated with the lack of a
catalytic enzyme, which under normal circumstances does not
affect the functioning of the body. Only when alcohol is consumed
do unpleasant symptoms appear: the face becomes flushed, skin
temperature rises, the pulse quickens. Europeans, black
Africans, and North American Indians are not affected in the
same way. But they are subject to other genetically determined
food sensitivities. For example, lactose intolerance is highest
in Blacks.
The example given above tells us that the projection of
biological characteristics into the universe of people's
existence results in the image of differences among various
groups of people and among individuals. People noticed these
peculiarities before science existed in order to explain them.
Relating the effect to a cause-a certain food or drink-people
incorporate this relation into their body of experiences.
Established connections become rules that are intended to ensure
optimal individual and group functioning. Rules pertaining to
food and ways of eating were eventually encoded and transmitted
through literate means.
In short, patterns of work and life are affected. They point to
various levels at which human practical experiences and the
experience of nourishment are interconditioned. A first level
regards nourishment and our biological endowment. A second level
is nourishment and the environment-what we can afford from the
world surrounding us. A third level is nourishment and
self-consciousness-what best suits our life and work. Over time
the interdependency changes. And at moments when the scale of
mankind reaches a threshold, it is drastically redefined-as in
our times, for instance.
On a larger scale, food- and drinking-related instances prompt
vast servicing activities and the establishment of networks of
distributed tasks. Today, diet engineers, caterers, geneticists,
nutritionists, are set up to provide whatever fits the occasion,
the guest list, dietary prescriptions, and astrological or
medical recommendations. A formal dinner can become a well
mediated activity, with many prefabricated components, including
table manners-if the commissioning party so desires. Associated
or not to the menu, a preparatory seminar in what to wear, how
to use utensils (if more than plastic spoons and knives are
used), what kind of conversation with the entrée, and which jokes
before, or after, or instead of the wine, educates for the event.
In fact, the buffet, a configuration from which each can
assemble his or her menu, not unlike the on-line order form for
the Internet pizza, is more and more preferred. It is less
confining than the literacy-based sequence of the three-course
meals-structured as introduction, thesis, and conclusion, known
under the labels appetizer, main entrée, dessert.