this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2024
-50 points (25.0% liked)

Showerthoughts

29571 readers
968 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.

Rules

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Hear me out. There's nothing innate to an object that makes it "food". It's an attribute we give to certain things that meet certain qualities, i.e. being digestible, nutritious, perhaps tasty or satisfying in some way, etc. We could really ingest just about anything, but we call the stuff that's edible "food". Does that make it a social construct?

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Food is a category made up of human edible materials, usually providing nutritional benefits. There is a larger social construct AROUND food. Like a burrito is a construct, it being a product of Mexican culture is a construct, it being transformed into a "Cali Burrito", people who have burrito bumper stickers, the type of place you think of when someone says "a burrito joint". All social constructs. But food itself, I wouldn't consider a social construct, no.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

Dude your mom’s a social construct

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago (1 children)

On a scale of 1 to munchies, how high are you right now?

Go ahead, you can eat the mold off your walls, what's the worst that could happen?

[–] [email protected] -2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Maybe this is why people are freaking out. "If food is a social construct, then I'll start eating mold!" Yeah, and I'm the one who's stupid and crazy. I'm actually really astounded by how much people are reading their own bullshit into this.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

No, it’s not a social construct, it’s a description of things that are consumed for nutritional value. Sure, “food” is a social construct in that it’s an English Language word used to describe said items, but every single life form consumes some form of food, regardless of said life form’s society (or more often lack thereof).

Also there are literally objective things innate to certain objects that make them food so you’re entire initial premise is idiotic.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Maybe all language, words, and sentences, and the meaning behind everything we share are just social constructs?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Food is a social construct. For a social construct to exist you have to have a social category with shifting goalposts based on different context and cultural factors that are not rigidly defined. Like "Fat" - what is considered fat for a person is based on context. A supermodel is fat for being 5'9 and 145lbs but we would call a constructiom labourer skinny as fuck at those same dimensions. Each culture constructs it's own version of what defines "fat" which is different and distinct from something than the medical guidelines for obesity or an expectation of reasonable health. "Fat" is in the eye of the beholder and represents overlapping cultural circles with varying degrees of consideration of what is excluded from the category.

The scientific concept of nutritional substance is not how we always define "food". Culturally people contest what is considered food vs non food items based on cultural factors. Like eating mice for instance does have nutritional value but there are a lot of people who would contest them as being a valid food item even if they were raised in clean conditions due to cultural adversions. "That isn't food." has been uttered in all sincerity by people encountering strange delicacies that their culture has taboos against eating beliving it dangerous, unpleasant or just categorically not something intended to be eaten. Thus "food" would be in part a sociologically constructed category.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I knew the Driveby

Haiku would understand. Nice.

Thank you for responding.

load more comments
view more: next ›