Introduction

Abstract

While it has long been accepted that eating is more than a biological act, most sociologists have shown little interest in the sociology of food. In fact, food is frequently taken for granted as an element in a variety of sociological theory, as demonstrated by such diverse works as those of George Herbert Mead, Karl Marx, Talcott Parsons, Walter Wallace, Gerhard Lenski, Charles Tilly, Anthony Giddens, and Immanuel Wallerstein. All of these theorists have either alluded to or made explicit reference to the human need for food and the social activities that attempt to meet that need. The majority of these associations concern the production rather than the consumption of food. Of the theorists, only Simmel [1915] (see Symons, 1994) and, more recently, Bourdieu (1984) have paid explicit attention to food consumption. Symons’s (1994) translation of Simmel’s analysis of the social functions of the meal makes it available in English for the first time.