Beyond conviviality : Facets of Eating Together

• The stability of the human tendency to eat in groups is remarkable. We find it to be valued and mostly desirable across geographical locations, cultures, and historical time periods. Yet, there is a great deal of variety in how the practice is expressed, how individuals experience it, and how the sharing of meals is understood culturally. This chapter focuses on three facets of eating together that deserve more attention in the literature: the biology of eating together; the differentiation and cohesion of eating together; and the performativity of eating together. It ends with a postulation about carefulness with normative claims about meals in company or in solitude.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Annan humaniora -- Etnologi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Other Humanities -- Ethnology (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

biology; cohesion; commensality; conviviality; distinction; performativity

Kostvetenskap

Food, Nutrition and Dietetics

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kap (subject category)