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Tata Institute Of Social Sceicnes, Mumbai . .. Assingment

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TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCEICNES, MUMBAI ASSINGMENT -1 TOPIC: CULTURAL INTERPRETATION OF NON - VEGITARIAN DIET COURSE: MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY AND PUBLIC HEALTH (COURSE CODE: OPH-4 ) SUBMITTED TO: Dr. MATHEW GEORGE SUBMITTED BY: NISHTHA MISHRA, Enrl. No.: MM2016SW002. E-Mail: nishtha.mishra2016@tiss.edu DATE OF SUBMISSION: 10TH Feberaury, 2017 CULTURAL INTERPRETATION OF NON - VEGITARIAN DIET Introduction: Food is a kind of healthy substance which living being use to eat or drink in order to sustain their life and development. However, when cultural phenomenon is attached with it, then the meaning of food not only remains as an organic product with biomedical qualities but it also becomes the symbol of social life and …show more content…

Food brings people together help in making connections, establishing and sustaining relationships (Thahiya, 2014). There are definite rule which define the cultural abundance of food and health such as which food is to eat, which not be eaten. For exploring the anthropological and cultural attributed of individuals and groups it is important to study folktales, folksongs, folkdance, customs, festivals etc. but it can also be traced out with food ways in which people eat food [ibid.]. Food habits can future explain the belief system, religious rules and ideologies of people. French sociologist Claude Fischer describes this by an argument in “Food, Self and Identity” and stated that “food constitutes the self. . . . The saying, ‘You are what you eat,’ bespeaks not only the biochemical relationship between us and our food but also the extent to which food practices determine our systems of beliefs and representations” (Fischler, 1988). Food not only reflects the individual identity but also depicts the cultural identity which may create differences and margins between cultures. “Food does more than satisfy one’s biological need for calories, nutrients, water. Food choice divides communities and has the power to delineate the boundaries between them. Food taboos can serve to mark outsiders as unclean, unhealthy, unholy” (Steim & Nemeroff ,1995). Thus it can be said that understanding socio cultural habits, rituals and tradition associated with food habits such

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