Comments on: I’ll Just Have a Salad

By: Dorez

Dorez — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 06:01:24 +0000

Everyone here have expressed themselves in such an elegant or witty manner, I feel inadequate to get my thoughts in this comment box. Ha,ha,ha.
But I’ll say this… You all sure have given me food for thought. And I’m glad I already ate, because reading all of your comments might’ve sent me to the kitchen for some apple pie. Oh- shoot! Forgot I don’t have any pie. Well… tomorrow, I know what I’m having… a thick steak and huge baked potato. (Just half-kidding…’cause I don’t eat steak anymore). Seriously, though… I think it’s probably true that food is a gender thing. However, I tend to eat more like a man (as described in this blog). I haven’t gotten into Soy much, except I’ll have Soy Milk with my cereal occasionally. Bottom line is that I’ve finally learned not to be influenced by the diet industry or anyone else. They’ve made enough money off our insecurities.

By: Deirdre

Deirdre — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 17:07:46 +0000

IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m adding Pocky for Men to my list of surreal food. Thanks. And I am starting to wonder about the gender of asparagus. Male in shapeÃ¢â‚¬Â¦female in nature?

Asparagus is one of those more primitive plants that come in male and female, so there are male asparagus, and there are female asparagus. The latter carry fruiting structures. The former produce pollinating structures.

By: Brandon Berg

Brandon Berg — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 06:41:39 +0000

The word Ã¢â‚¬Å“anti-oxidantÃ¢â‚¬Â trips lightly off a womanÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s tongue. Men are expected to eat Ã¢â‚¬Å“what they wantÃ¢â‚¬Â and not concentrate on health issues.

This is news to me. Counting calories might be seen as a bit effeminate–I guess we men are supposed to control the composition of our bodies from the other side of the equation–but I’m not aware of any stereotypes associating knowledge of nutrition with women.

By: Alas, a blog » Blog Archive » The Big Fat Carnival - First Edition!

Alas, a blog » Blog Archive » The Big Fat Carnival - First Edition! — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 00:55:57 +0000

[...] Body Impolitic: I’ll Just Have A Salad HereÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s what we mean when we say food is gendered. Women are expected to want salads, vegetables, fancy chocolates, and sweet alcoholic drinks with umbrellas in them. Men are expected to want slabs oÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ meat, potatoes, apple pie, and beer or hard liquor. Women are expected to comment in restaurants on the size of the portion and the presentation of the food before they take a bite. Men are expected to dig in. [...]

By: Pearl

Pearl — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 03:43:18 +0000

I agree. Society imposes gender on absurd number of things. It always amuses me. It’s also fun to go to a restaurant. I order a meat dish and husband orders a salad and desert and majority of times, waitress switches our order in her head. lol.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 01:20:22 +0000

Lizzie’s comment reminder me of a very different and awful family experiece at dinner when my younger daughter was about five

We were having elaborate dinner with her grandmother. She was telling her to eat, “don’t you like my food”, “have some more dessert etc”. Then as my daughter was swallowing her last bite of food, her grandmother said. “Don’t you think you’re gaining too much weight”. My daughter and I choked simutaneously.

I did (pretty immediately) say all the right things but my outrage and anger is still vivid years later.

By: Lizzie

Lizzie — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 18:05:46 +0000

I had a weird childhood in this regard because my dad was always on a diet, for health reasons, and complained about it a lot, and my mom never dieted for appearance or any other reason. She ate everything she wanted, but has a basically puritanical & denying attitude toward food that’s not gender based, as far as I can see. Much open disapproval for fat people of both gender for not being able to control themselves. Lots of “Don’t take a second helping, I’m saving that” and ‘Don’t touch that, you’ll spoil your dinner’ to both me and my dad. I was never urged to eat, for which I’m grateful, but I feel like the limiting on quantities and snacks made me the compulsive eater I am today. She doesn’t understand compulsion of any kind – “if you want to lose weight why don’t you just stop eating so much?” because she can stop eating or chewing gum or whatever if she chooses to. Anyway, so I have food problems but not the typical female ones.

(Your link to Lori’s livejournal is wrong.)

By: Laurie

Laurie — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 06:56:52 +0000

I’m adding Pocky for Men to my list of surreal food. Thanks. And I am starting to wonder about the gender of asparagus. Male in shape…female in nature?

I agree that gendering food is very often about women not eating. I was raised to eat “delicately” at least in public. I like salad but it’s a side dish in my life because my body doesn’t believe it’s “solid” food.

The whole idea of food, morality, magic etc is _really_ interesting.
We’re just blogging about a piece of it.

By: Patsy Nevins

Patsy Nevins — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 11:25:01 +0000

I really don’t think that soy is the work of the devil, Lynn, I was joking there. I don’t like soy foods, though, & a nurse friend of mine who does a lot of deep health/food/fat-related research told me that there is a strong indication that high soy intake increases cancer risks, so that I didn’t need to FORCE myself to use soy to get through the menopausal crap. I get some hot flashes, but not too bad most of the time. I do love meat, I have to admit, & believe that all foods fit into a healthy diet, do not believe in any of the fad stuff or health being a religion. I come from a long line of people who cooked with lard (which I don’t), ate salt pork, & put 4 tsps of sugar in a cup of coffee, & lived into their 90’s, so I try to ignore all the “scares” conceived by the various big money interests & just live the way that feels right for ME. You may have your soy & you are welcome to my portion too, but if anyone tries to foist soy off on me & call it a burger, he or she may be prominently featured in your next mystery. :-) Maybe we can meet over the teapot.

I have had two sons & spent nearly three years breastfeeding, but I guess my food preferences, except for that strong commitment to chocolate, make me a male. :-)

By: Lynne Murray

Lynne Murray — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 21:29:15 +0000

Patsy’s comment reminded me that my first comment on this managed to leave out my interest in the way people become invested in certain foods (both for and against). I think that dieting has become a minor religion in America because the process of assigning mystical value or evil intent to certain foods ties into our Judeo-Christian food taboos and uses of fasting and ritual foods.

The idea of soy foods being “the work of the devil” is even funnier to me because when I stop eating soy foods I get hot flashes, so that devil protects me! But seriously, the very word tofu has become invested with what a professor friend calls a “swimming pool socialist” aura. Too many foods to mention have acquired this baggage. Remember “real men don’t eat quiche”?

People look for magic, redemption and various types of identity in food, so no wonder discussions of it rake up emotions. The way in which food sustains our very life and affects us from moment to moment has miraculous qualities to it, and the way it affects us is not always immediate, which can give it a mystical quality, because it is literally hidden from view unless you know what you’re looking for. And even then, its effects can be subject to debate.