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OCR for page 113
SOCIAL PROCESS AND DIETARY CHANGE *
HERBERT PASSIN arid JOHN W. BENNETT
Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago
In an earlier paper describing the general results of the Southern Illinois
Foodways Studv,2 it was explained that the purposes of the project were two-
fold: ~ ~ to effect a preliminary isolation of certain general propositions con-
cerning the integration of food habits with culture, and ~) to evolve a set of
procedures for the modification of food habits in the particular rural area
studied.! This combined theoretical and practical approach has led to an
analytical focus upon the critical problem of dietary change as related to
culture change. In this paper we propose to summarize our materials relating
to this problem.
I
THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Since there are so many differellt foods used by any group of people, so
many different dietary patterns and cooking practices in their cultural in-
ventory, a simple catalogue would serve little purpose in an understanding
of pattern. For example, while both beef and pork may be ire use, there is a
patent difference between the regular, universal use of pork meat, and the
infrequent, episodic occurrence of beef in the diet. Such differences in the
place of food in diet have led us to see a gradient of relative dietary impor-
tance in the food habits of the area. Those foods which are universal, regular,
staple, important, and consistent in the form of use, we have, following
Linton,3 called the "core diet." When a food is widely used, but not universal
(i.e., segmental), more variable in use and form, and less emotionally im-
portant, we use the tem1 "secondary core." For while these foods are char-
acteristically part of the diet, they do not have the fundamental, traditional
force of the core foods. (They correspond to flat Linton has called
"specialties.") Finally, we leave reserved the term "peripheral foods" for those
Chicle are least common, most infrequent in occurrence, and those which are
not characteristic of groups, but rather of individuals. (This roughly cor-
responds to Linton's "alternatives.")
From a practical point of view, the distinctions seem of considerable value
for they enable us to state that greatest emotional resistance to dietary change
is encountered in reference to the core items, less in the secondary core, and
the greatest ease and fluidity of change in the peripheral zone.
* Provision for the compilation of material relevant to the National Nutrition Campaign
was made by the Committee on Food Habits.
iThis paper will provide further exposition of some of the results of the Southern
Illinois Foodways Study, a project sponsored by the Social Science Research Council
and the University of Chicago.2 2 The present article represents an extreme condensa-
tion of a study to appear in the near future. For reasons of space limitation, it was
found necessary to exclude consideration of the Negro area.
8
II3
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I 14
Me Proble,;: of Changing Food Habits
The terms are not absolute ire their reference and depend to a large extent
upon the unit that is being considered. Thus, if the entire area encompassed
in the study is considered as a unit, the core diet or the most common foods-
tends to be less than the core diet characteristic of each subunit.* Similarly,
when the segments (classes, status groups, etc.) of the subunits are con-'
sidered, the core diet will tend to be larger than that of the subunit as a
whole. Thus the ' core or universal and staple common elements is quan-
titatively less in an ascending scale from segment to subunit to area as a
whole.
From a large historic view, it will be seen that one of the characteristics of
culture change, with its attendant differentiation is the re(ll1ction of the aren1
, _
core in a quantitative 'sense, and the relative increase of the subunit and
especially the segmental cores. That is, historically, the culture of food was
snore universal in the earlier periods, and progressively more differentiated
as social changes alter the picture of a homogeneous area.
The general factors guiding acceptance or rejection of foods seems to lie
the degree of urbanization and the economic condition of the individual. If
urbanization is high and economic condition' favorable, foods of urban
provenience are more readily acceptable. In the high urbanization, poor eco-
nomic condition group, desire is present, but actual diet depends upon what
can be manipulated within the straitened economic circumstances. Where
urbanization is low and economic conditions favorable, the diet tends to be
traditional, resistant to change, and fairly ample with new items as a sec-
ondary core or periphery. Finally, with low urbanization and poor economic
conditions, the diet is resistant to change, meager, and virtually without in-
~ovation. Core elell~erlts may be dropped, but only because they' cannot be
produced or afforded. The level of aspiration is still else historic core.
II
THE HISTORIC DIET
The basic historical division was between Americans arid Germs (also
Negroes, who are not, however, considered ire the present report).
~4. The Old Eric an Diet
Food habits in the "old days" in else Old An~ericar~ areas were charac-
t'eristically linked to the general regional folk pattern of mutual aid and col-
lective action. Swapping and bartering of fang products was condor; beef
and pork "rings" operated, in which each farmer killed an animal and 'dis-
tributed the-meat to the other members of the ring. The diet itself contained
more of the staples that have long since been regarded as cash crop items:
beef, corn and wheat flour. In the "old days," cattle, corn, and wheat were
raised and consumed locally, the grains being ground by local mills which
*The areas considered here are: Stringtown, the Bottoms, the Lower Hills, and the
German Hills. The reader nest be referred for details to the earlier report.2
~ For materials on the Negroes, see 2.
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Social Process and Dietary Change
~5
demanded a share of the flour as payment. Other foods that were important
in this period but have since almost disappeared, were: fish, turkey, mutton,
molasses, wild game, and wild greens. The latter two were exceptionally im-
portant in the bottoms, because that area was so fertile in flora and fauna.
The emphasis upon self-support was marked, and it took its form not only
from the home use of crops and domesticated animals, but from a fuller
utilization of environmental resources. In general, this pattern of self-support
is perhaps the most prominent feature of this early period. In the words of
an old resident, "We et ever' thing we could catch or kill except a turkey
buzzard."
From extensive field materials, we can reconstruct the following basic
dietary pattern for the early period:
Beef, mutton, pork.
Wild game:.turkey, squirrel, rabbit, opossum, raccoon, deer, fish, turtle.
Vegetable: onions, carrots, peas (except green peas), beans of all kinds, okra, pumpkin,
tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, corn, cucumbers.
Chickens, ducks, geese.
Wheat and corn flour, locally produced (white bread and corn bread).
Milk and butter.
Sorghum molasses.
Fruits: blackberries, peaches, apples, melons.
Wild greens: poke, murdock of various kinds, mustard, dandelion.
Sugar, coffee, salt.
Preparations: certain old dishes, like beef stew, hog jowl with wild greens. Also pies,
jams, jellies, etc.
General characteristics:
I. Less variety in the diet; consistent ways of preparing foods that rarely varied.
a. A more abundant diet, greater in quantity than the present.
3. Closer functional dependence upon environment; more hunting and collecting of
natural foods.
4. Greater reliance upon home produced foods.
Within the historic diet can be distinguished several levels. First, we can
segregate the "core," which contained, according to the values of the times,
the most "necessary" foods for sustaining human life. These were: meat,
particularly pork; potatoes; whole grain and corn bread; beans of all kinds;
sorghum molasses; coffee; sugar; and salt.
Second, we find a secondary core, which includes everything except the
elements listed in the core. This secondary core constituted a nutritionally
important aspect of the diet, and was ' by no means slighted by the people of
the period. In terms of cultural values, however, it was accessory to the
staple core. In other words, any of the auxiliary foods would be given up
before the staple articles. This is borne out by the descriptions of the diet
during past periods of economic pressure: the bare minimum was usually the
staple core plus whatever secondary foods could be hunted or grown.
Third, we can distinguish a preparation core, composed of a series of
recipes and dishes, like stews, roasts, use of pork fat for cooking vegetables,
extensive use of grease gravy, fruit preserves, and several others. The most
consistent elements of the preparation core were those involving foods in the
staple core.
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I I 6
The Problem of Changing Food Habits
B. The Old German Diet*
In the upland prairie and parkland of the Ozark spur lives a large block of
population of German descent. In the area, the distinction between German
and American is still retained and serves to indicate a major social differen-
tiation. Coming over with a tradition of small-scale, intensive agriculture,
the Germans settled in the area in large numbers from ~858 onwards. They
brought with them such distinctive traits as two-story houses; cellars; large,
well-built and well-tended barns; t and intensive farming plus a resolute ideal
of household self-sufficiency.
By contrast with the Old American groups, German agriculture was more
intense, diversified, and had greater variety ire crops. While the soil was in-
ferior to the richer flatlands and bottoms, it was free of the hazard of flood,
and by care and devoted attention was kept up and even improved in the
course of time. All around, however, erosion and soil exhaustion exacted their
harsh tribute.
The Germans brought with them not only their language, agricultural prac-
tices, and ideals, but also their homeland food habits. The core of these was
the same pork-bears-potatoes triad found among the Americans, but the char-
acteristic preparations varied considerably. Concordance with environmental
availability was extensive enough to enable them to carry over much of the
traditional elements into the new situation.
The food habits that distinguished them from their neighbors may be
summarized as follows: i:
Greater use of heavy soups.
Preparation of various sausages: liver, pork, flour, head, frankfurters, bologna, salami,
sausage balls, etc.
Boiled potatoes and potato salad.
Extensive use of rye-in bread, etc.
Use of barley.
Use of pickling preservative processes (with fruit acid and vinegar, salt, etc.) for meats
and vegetables, rather than canning: thus, pickled cucumbers, tomatoes, turnips,
kraut, etc.
Smoking of foods: smoked hams, smoked sausages, etc.
Preserved backbone and ribs.
Storage in subterranean cellars.
Head cheese.
Pickled pigs' feet.
Blood pudding.
Absence of cheese, except clabbered cheese.
Relative absence of sweet puddings and desserts.
Fruit orchards.
Wines from grape arbors.
Lesser use of grease in cooking.
The core food practices incorporated many of these and some newer ele-
ments that they learned from the Americans and found convenient in the new
The authors are indebted to their co-worker, Lt. Harvey L. Smith, U.S.A., for the
field materials on the Germans. In the division of labor in the field, this was his specialty.
t It was often reported that the Germans built their barns before they built their houses.
~ The present itemization and those that follow are, of course, not exhaustive. They
would require too much space, These are given only as important and characteristic.
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Social Process and Dietary - Change
~7
setting. By the time the community really took shape, the composite core,
drawn from both German and American sources, was well entrenched. The
historic core may be characterized as follows:
Ideal of self-sufficiency.
Basic use of hog meats in all forms.
Beans.
Sausage preparations (see above).
Head cheese.
Use of cellars for storage.
Boiled potatoes and potato salad.
Light bread.
Preserved backbone and ribs.
Cottage cheese.
Abundant fruit orchards.
Bacon and hamfat.
Intensive gardening.
lIeavy soups: potato, barley, vegetable.
Barley.
Blood pudding.
Smoking of food.
Pickling preservative processes.
Corn bread.
Pickled pigs' feet.
Cereals.
Extensive use of dairy products.
Sorghum molasses.
In general, the historic core contains most of the traditional elements plus
accretions of related American elements that were easily adoptable.
The secondary core is much smaller and contains elements that were em-
ployed by a large number of persons but were not universal:
Cheeses.
Fried chicken.
Kafekuchen.
Wines.
Pies arid other desserts.
Hominy and other corn products.
Sugar.
Fried potatoes.
Use of beef and mutton products.
Rye bread.
Manufacture of beer.
Sweet potatoes.
Coffee.
Canning.
Use of wild game and plants.
In the peripheral zone, there was much variability and individuation and
relative infrequence of occurrence. The elements of this sphere were imported
from the American farmers and adventitiously brought in from the outside.
They include:
Store foods of all kinds.
Biscuits and gravy for breakfast.
~ .
cream gravies.
Salads fruit and vegetable.
Rice.
Store flour.
Heavy use of grease.
Tropical fruits.
Exotics, such as oysters, cream pies, etc.
In the old days the core was very extensive. It included a large number
of foods, processes, and practices, and it embraced virtually all of the com-
munity. The elements were in part of traditional derivation, in part adopted
from the surrounding Americans, and showed a good environmental fit. While
the secondary core was likewise extensive, the variation in usage corresponded
to differences in social experience. Thus the older people clung with fervor to
the old country traditions in the face of change and difficulties. The closer the
families lived to the Old Americans, the greater was the approximation to
their dietary styles. As we move to the heart of the German area, we find
that the American practices tend to diminish except for those incorporated
in the core diet. Also, store foods were resorted to by more urbanized folk,
while the more rural retained the goal of self-sufficiency. The same considera-
tions apply in more extreme form to the peripheral zone.
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I I 8
The Problem of Changing Food Habits
III
THE CONTEMPORARY DIET
At. Stringtozon and the Lower Hills
The course of historic change in Stringtown has resulted from the twin
impact of commercialization and urbanization.4, 5 The gradual economic
changes before World War I, which did not affect the basic economy, brought
about the substitution of some store-purchased foods for home-produced items
like flour, molasses, etc., plus a few novelties that were recommended by their
convenience or taste. After the first World War, the basic economic structure
changed in tile direction of extreme dependence upon the outside and tenancy.
The initial adjustment was to a moonshining economy which brought in money
on a large scale and the virtual disappearance of gardening among the moon-
shiners. In this period, most food was purchased in stores, and urban food
types and values became paramount. Most recently, with the abolition of
moonshining, the community adjusted to a new type of existence.
The originally homogeneous farmer community became transformed into a
segmented community where, while there is still considerable uniformity in
foodways, significant differences of emphasis, aspiration, and actual diet can
be found. We may describe these groups and their characteristic dietary
patterns as briefly as possible.
A statistical analysis of foods consumed over a sample period of time yields
the following breakdown of core, secondary, and peripheral elements for the
entire community:
CORE
Coffee.
Meat (especially pork
in various forms).
Gravy (milk and
grease) .
Biscuits.
Butter.
Jelly.
CORE
Meat (pork
varieties ) .
Irish potatoes.
Coffee.
Beans (all
varieties ~ .
White bread.
Vegetables (in
season ) .
Sweet potatoes.
Pies.
BREA KFAST
SECONDARY
Rolled oats.
Eggs.
Milk.
White bread.
Packaged cereals.
SECONDARY
Butter.
Corn bread.
Gravy.
Apples.
Cake.
Pickles.
Fruit.
DIN NER
PERIPHERAL
Toast.
Syrup.
Fruit.
Potatoes.
Kraut.
Onions.
Cocoa.
PERIPHERAL
Prunes.
Chicken.
Pancakes.
r
Biscuits.
Spaghetti.
Iced tea
(summer) .
Banana pudding.
Cheese.
Milk.
Chocolate milk.
Jelly.
Chicken soup.
Potato salad.
Catsup.
Graham crackers.
Fried pumpkin.
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Social Process and Dietary Change
SUPPER
CORE
White bread.
Butter.
Irish potatoes.
Pork.
Colt.
SECONDARY
Beans.
Tomatoes.
Sweet potatoes.
Pie.
Jelly.
Sandwiches.
Corn.
Gravy.
Milk.
Ii ruit.
Characteristics: Use of leftovers, extrt+.me variability,
I I 9
PERIPHERAL
Biscuits.
Cake.
Cookies.
Kraut.
Peas.
Pickles.
Graham crackers.
Spaghetti.
Chocolate milk.
Cheese.
Chicken soup.
Pumpkin pie.
Turnip greens.
Salmon.
Lettuce.
Sardines.
rags.
Tomato juice.
relatively light Neal, I~eriphera]ity of ve,,etal~lcs.
When the distinct segments are considered, important variations of emphasis
appear.
I. The well-to-do farmers. The general pattern for this group is very
similar to the areal core, but all the items are nave abundant. The majority
of them are home-produced where economically possible, and minimal empha-
sis proportionately is placed upon store-purchase. Thus in the breakfast core,
the meat is more likely to be from their own smokehouses than from the
stores. While it is true that proportionately the store purchase is low, in abso-
lute terms it is high. There is both more self-sufficiency and an ampler diet.
Characteristically, they do a great deal of home canning and slaughtering of
meat, and thus tend to have meat and home vegetables the year round. Most
of the store purchases, aside from such staples as flour, salt, sugar, and coffee,
are simply status indulgences or are used to fill in seasonal gaps.
2. Poor farmers and sharecroppers. In this group, the pattern is distorted
by extreme paucity of all items. They are very dependent upon store pur-
chase to fill seasonal gaps and the lack of ample gardens, chickens for home
use, etc. The money purchase in this group is smaller than in group I, but
it is proportionately higher in their total food consumption. On the whole
they aspire for ampler home-grown foods, like the wealthier farmers, but
the desire for more store-purchased items is of greater importance.
3. Urbanized, casual labor, WPA and factory workers. In this sector is
found virtually complete store dependence. The chief ambition is to eat like
"city folks" and get away from the rural milieu. Dietary changes have been
greatest here because of the absence of gardens and their dependence on
money income. Variability is greater than for the other segments.
The Lower Hills subarea, while recognized as separate from Stringtown,
exhibits a similar course of development. The primary difference lies in the
fact that the Lower Hills is more "upper class." The majority of the upper
group in the Lower Hills must be classified with Stringtown Group I. The
minority of approximately one-third must be classified with Stringtown
Group a. The same considerations as outlined above apply in these instances.
B. Dietary Change in the Bottoms
We will analyze changes in the Bottoms in terms of alterations in the his-
toric core diet down to the present. During the earliest period, Bottoms cul
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I20
The Problem of Changing Food Habits
ture and food habits were substantially identical with those of other American
subareas.
At an early date, however, Bottoms land was divided into a number of
large estates that were operated as a large-scale tenancy system. The former
farm-owners were absorbed into the tenancy system, as were a large number
of new families that removed into the area. The economic change occurred in
the Bottoms earlier than in any other subarea, resulting in modifications that
anticipated later types of "urbanization" elsewhere.
With the more concentrated effort required for raising cash crops, and
the necessary use of all land both a result of tenancy there was less time
to devote to gardening, hunting, and raising stock for home-consumption.
The diet therefore began to change in the direction of more reliance upon
the newly-introduced stores; molasses and flour, for example, began to be
purchased. Other new urban foods began to appear: oranges and bananas
were purchased as special treats; new varieties of spices; and the first proc-
essed foods.
As tenancy developed, the most important feature of culture change in
regard to diet was the familial differentiation within the total group. No
single family can be taken as representative of all, as could be done for the
pre-tenancy period. It is necessary to distinguish subgroupings of families
which correlate with dietary differences.
Between the early periods and the present, arbors foods svere continually
entering the diet, and the old staple core became merged with some of the old
secondary core foods to produce a traditional, "old-time farm-grub" concept.
For our analysis of the contemporary period, we will call this new type of
core, the "traditional core;" the new foods plus the older foods which are no
longer in the core, the "secondary core," or the "peripheral diet," depending
upon their type of integration within the diet.
The social system of the modern Bottoms consists of a series of rank-order
positions based upon socio-economic status. At the top are the tenant farmers;
below them the sharecroppers; * then a middle group: riverbank squatters,
farm laborers, WPA workers; at the bottom, riverbank and shantyboat
fishermen. Food has become attached to this status system) in that the
tenant diet constitutes the dietary goal for all subordinate families, and
that foods attached to the river people's (fishermen, primarily) diet have
become of low-prestige.t
The Tenant Diet
Tenants are able to raise adequate gardens and have enough cash on hand
to buy store foods both as luxuries or in the event of garden or stock failure.
They have an essential choice in diet that is lacking in the lower status posi
* Sharecroppers differ from tenants in size of land, or are in a relation of subtenancy
with tenants.
iThe shantyboat-dweller diet will not be discussed here for lack of space. It does
show interesting divergencies from the land diet, as a result of diverse culture contact.
As fisherman become riverbank squatters, their diet tends toward the agricultural type,
however.
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Social Process and Dietary Change
121
lions. The diet contains the largest proportion of both old foods and the
newer alternatives.
Traditional core. Contains basic triad of old staple core (beans, potatoes,
pork). Also shows integration of old secondary foods, and preparation core
items.
Secondary core. Consists of some old secondary foods that have failed to
enter traditional core (turnips, chicken); some foods and variations of old
staple core (corn bread, cracklings); and a group of urban foods that entered
some time ago (cereals, canned vegetables).
Peripheral. Consists of a few foods from old secondary core; a number of
"luxury" items (tinned meats, grapefruit); and very recent urbanisms.
Individual families vary from this ideal type in terms of their degree of
mobility and contact they have had with other, usually urban, cultures.
The Sharecropper Diet
Although the sharecropper keenly aspires to the tenant diet, his diet actu-
ally differs from that type in the following ways:
I. Almost no variability around traditional core. These foods constitute
major diet.
a. Secondary core foods are almost exclusively the old secondary core
garden products urban foods are relatively rare.
3. Peripheral foods rare, but when they do occur they are usually foods
typical of the secondary core in the tenant diet- like canned vegetables. The
whole picture is that of a diet held close to the traditional core because of
economic limitation the sharecropper lacks time and money for production
and purchase of tenant-type diet.
The desire of sharecroppers (and other non-tenant people) to "eat like
the tenants" means that the diet is held to a conservative level because they
wish to achieve the traditional core goal; on the other hand, this desire pro-
motes change in that the sharecropper also wishes to secure the newer urban
foods associated with the tenant diet.
Riverbank-FarYn Laborer Diet;
This is an attenuation of the sharecropper type, expectable from the lower
economic status, but it also contains some urban exotics, like oysters, cake,
and wieners, that reflect the wishful thinking, urban aspirations of these
highly mobile. acculturated people. A higher reliance 1lnon sheen runners
~O ~ ~
~ . . . _
vegetables IS also present. In general, the traditional core is penetrated by
unbalanced secondary and peripheral items.
WP~4 Diet
It is in this diet that the most striking cultural changes are reflected. The
departure from a farming economy is displayed in the formation of a totally
new core diet: many of the older foods that can be grown in small gardens,
plus a host of urbanisms like bologna, cookies, soft drinks, and the like.
These are a direct result of the increased reliance upon a cash economy plus
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I22
The Problem of Changing Food Habits
the influence of a cold-lunch pattern. Here the old staple core triad (beans,
potatoes, pork) are all purchased.
C. The Contemporary German Diet
The passage of time has brought many changes in the German diet. Funda-
mentally, the changes may be attributed to the differentiating social processes
which have acted upon the community. In summary form, these are three:
commercialization, contact with Old American culture and partial accultura-
tion to American culture modes, and urbanization. We may examine the
consequences of these trends in terms of their effects upon food habits.
I. The commercialization of the area, which was relatively sloes and reached
its fullest development shortly after World War I, resulted in a greater reli-
ance on cash crops, a corresponding lessening of household self-sufficiency,
and increased familiarity with the ways of markets and towns.
The decline of self-sufficiencyr and the devotion of more energy to the pro-
duction of cash crops vitally affected dietary custom. It was found necessary
to supplement deficiencies in home-production by some store-purchase. While
this process never went quite so far as it did in the other areas, it is nonethe-
less significant. It was necessary to buy food occasionally; and to buy food
one had to have money. Thus the two processes supported one another.
Store-purchased foods, which had formerly been in the periphery, began to
appear in the core. Flour, cornmeal, canned fruits, and vegetables all became
more important. Also it became easier to purchase sausages and other foods
that took too mucl, time in arduous preparation.
Grumble though the old-timers naight, the core was subtly changed to
include packaged cereals, macaroni, and some canned goods.
2. As the Germans came to share more of the way of life of their Ameri-
can neighbors, many of the older foods began to be replaced by items that were
more convenient. Housewives became more familiar with new foods and
modes of preparation and adopted suitable ones from among those they came
in contact with such as canning. Gradually they dropped those taking much
time. The latter began to drop from the core and enter the secondary core.*
Many persons also began to respond to the evaluations and taboos of their
neighbors and attempted to conform. Thus, several German foods were re-
garded with extreme distaste by the Americans, and they began to drop to
the periphery. They became symbols of a different status group, and from the
point of view of the Americans, a lower status. Blood puddings are one of the
most important items. Through the response to negative evaluation, many
Germans eliminated such items or else used them rarely. In general, the pat-
terning of responses to these low-prestige foods was similar to those found
in the Bottoms in connection with the river-people's diet.
Finally, it is found that the younger people have an increasingly common
world of understandings, goals, and ambitions with their age-mates of Old
American descent. This situation is reflected in their lack of taste for the
old German foods.
* It may be pointed out that the diffusion was not all in one direction; a few German
items made their way into the American diet.
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Social Process and Dietary Change
123
3. The protean impact of urbanism has further altered the historic core
in the direction of conformity with the surrounding area. German families
have developed considerable contact with relatives and friends in nearby towns,
including intermarriage. From these they acquire near food habits and
standards.
The trend toward secondary school education for the girls has taken future
homemakers outside the community, where they acquire new foodways. The
press and radio, playing upon receptive social areas, have had their effects.
Three groupings result from these processes:
I. The traditional group, which consists of older persons and others who
value the past, is the most self-sufficient in the area. Most of the historic
core is retained, with the addition of a few store-purchases plus certain easily
adaptable American foodways, such as a greater variety of pork preparations.
Canning, oldish promotes self-sufficiency, is prevalent.
a. In the group relatively acculturated to American standards, the core
is similar to the American core, particularly the "upper-class" Americans.
Most traditional foods have been dropped, especially those with low-prestige,
like blood pudding and head cheese. This group still lives "out of the farm,"
rather than "out of the store," exceeding in this respect most of the American
groups, save possibly the Lower Hills people with whom they associate.
3. A small constant core is found in the most highly urbanized group,
for here the disposition to accept outside foods is limited only by individual
taste, finances, and knowledge of foods. The garden is less important; home
production is drastically reduced. Store purchase increases, and the diet, with
its "delicacies," etc., more nearly approaches urban standards. Change is
rapid.
IV
SUM MARY
The historic and contemporary diets of the area of Stringtown, Illinois, were
analyzed in terms of the concept of core, secondary core, and alternative.
The changes were seen to result from commercialization, urbanization, and
contact between groups (Germans and Old Americans). As a consequence
of the social change, in the present we find differing segments instead of a
fairly homogeneous farmer population. Differences in food habits, as well as
differences in resistivity to change in food habits were seen to be closely
related to the contemporary social structure.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. Bennett, John W. Food and social status in a riverbottom society. Am. Soc. Rev.,
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Linton, Ralph. The study of man, an introduction. New York, D. Appleton-Century,
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4. Passin, Herbert. Preliminary report of a field survey of culture change in the region
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