Consumer Behavior- Processed Ham Ham, Thesis

From the author's analysis and historical narrative, it became apparent that food is also a commodity, not unlike manufactured objects or things sold and available commercially. Food is likened to a commodity because it is culture-specific and responsive to the economic state of societies at the time it became popular or highly patronized by the elite, the working class, and the peasants.

An interesting finding from Pilcher's investigation on the history of nouvelle cuisines is a detailed account of how popular food such as sushi and coffee became staples not only in Japan and Western countries, respectively, but also influenced the "landscape" that nouvelle cuisines currently dominate. Coffee and coffeehouses are examples of how a gastronomic product such as coffee became a 'commodity,' in the sense that it became a social habit that both elite and working classes cannot live without everyday (38). In the same vein, sushi became popular in Japanese society and throughout the world because of its economy, a staple food that working class people in the country preferred and patronized (40). Sushi, meanwhile, is a 'food product' that became popular because it satisfied the consumers' needs (gastronomic satisfaction) and was able to meet the economic capabilities of its largest group of patrons -- the working class.

Badami's article, "Turkey and tamarind chutney," highlights two salient points about food and culture: first, that culture highly influences one's preference for food, and second, that assimilation to a foreign or different culture also results to a 'hybrid' form of cuisine. The second point is the most interestingly illustrated in the article, mainly because it reflected how food, like culture, can be modified into a new form -- possibly, a nouvelle cuisine -- in order to integrate the old and new cultures of the individual. Indeed, 'we are what we eat,' and Badami proved this through her experience in adjusting to a foreign land without totally 'eliminating' from her gastronomic repertoire the food (and culture) that she has grown up with.

References

Badami, a. (October 2000). "Turkey and tamarind chutney: the spices of one's birthplace can cast a magic spell over immigrants to the land of Thanksgiving turkey, muses." The Globe and Mail.

"Globalization of the Processed Foods Market." (October 1996). United States Department of Commerce. Available at http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/Summaries/process.htm.

"Ham and Food Safety." (March 2007). United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service. Available at: www.fsis.usda.gov.

(Pilcher text). "Nouvelle cuisines."