You Are What You Eat Part 2

It's crazy to think that something as small as food can reveal our social class to other people.  We may not notice it coming from an affluent town like Barrington, but even our grocery stores mimic the general social class of our area.  Take the Barrington Jewel for example.  We always have the freshest produce and the biggest selection when it comes to making healthy choices.  This is because this area can afford to spend the extra money to get the proper nourishment our bodies need.  In the Honors Article, "Divided We Eat", the point was brought up that "...the richest Americans can afford to buy berries out of season at Whole Foods..."  This link details what is defined as "Watermelon Season"...Watermelon Season.  I found this fact so interesting because watermelon is offered at the Jewel year round because people are willing to pay the price to eat what they want.  I remember going to a Jewel in Elgin a few years ago because we were in the area and I saw the fruit selection that they had to offer.  The produce department was drastically smaller than the one at the Barrington Jewel that I had been used to and it was clear that the fruit and vegetables were not as fresh.  It was amazing to me that just driving 30 minutes away could make all the difference in the type of produce you were able to eat.

The Jewel-Osco pictured above is a good representation of being a marker of social class.  Its grand appearance and big glass windows show that it must be located in an affluent area.  "...America is a place of extremes, and what you eat for dinner has become the definitive marker of social status..." (Divided We Eat). 

However, not only food is a marker of our social status.  From the "Social Class in America" video that we have been watching in class, we saw that objects can be symbols of status.  In other words, a "status symbol".  Think about the clothes that you own, the car that you drive, or the electronics that you have.  You bought all of these things either consciously or unconsciously to enhance your status.  I remember in 7th grade, all of the girls were starting to buy Juicy Couture sweatpants and hoodies.  I remember going to Macy's and looking at the price label for a sweatshirt and being appalled at how expensive they were.  $92 for a sweatshirt??  Yet it was a purchase I would make in 7th grade because I wanted to elevate my status.  Luckily I still own the sweatshirt today so I have at least gotten my money's worth out of it!

On another note, the way that we act also can determine our social class.  In the video below we see the reason why Rednecks get the stereotype that they have today...

In the "Social Class in America" video, we saw that some people just want to elevate their social class.  For example, Ginnie Sayles (who married a millionaire), offers lessons to make-over one's social class.  She charges a whopping price of $1500 for these lessons!  You would think that she would not make an income because she wouldn't get any customers, but you'd be surprised at how much people are willing to pay in order to change social classes.  But it isn't as easy as taking a few lessons...people know what your status is.  The movie "Mean Girls" comes to mind when I think about social status and classes.  This movie trailer shows how much attention people give to the stereotypes and where people came from...

For all of you who haven't seen the movie (which is a must-see), it is about Cady, a new-girl from Africa who has just moved to the suburbs, and her struggles to fit in and take-down the reigning social queen, Regina George.  It takes Cady awhile to be accepted by Regina because she comes from a different social class than Regina and her friends (Regina drives a silver lexus, has a mansion, and her friend Gretchen's dad invented Toaster Struddle), and even when she begins to dress and act like the girls, they always know how to put her back in her place if she annoys them or does something wrong because THEY KNOW HER ROOTS, where she came from.  It is something that people will never forget.

Finally, back to food.  The Honors Article said that "...the contents of a child's lunchbox can be fodder for a 20-minute conversation."  Shows you how much people care about what other people are eating!  From the video, we saw the problems with choosing a community grocery store in Burlington, Vermont.  At the heart of this conflict? BREAD.  The co-op, which offers healthier choices at a heftier price, did not offer white bread, but rather had fresh bread that was more expensive than what people were willing to pay.  This shows that something as simple as bread could symbolize the difference in our classes.  The co-op eventually agreed to stock white bread at a cheaper price so that all of the community could be happy with their selection.

As a last note, in the article, it was mentioned that "...Fischler has found no single time of day (or night) when American predictably sit together and eat.  By contrast, 54 percent of the French dine at 12:30 each day.  Only 9.5 percent of the French are obese."  Typically my family has a sit-down meal with the whole family a few times a week, and when we are all not able to eat at the same time, my mom has prepared the meal in advance so that we can eat a healthy meal at whatever time we are able to.  Now I know not everyone is lucky enough to do that, but it's interesting how just having a sit-down meal can drastically reduce the obesity rate in a population.  Getting McDonald's out of the hands of small children now can seriously help them in the future.