Approaching Things Anthropologically PDF document

Food Culture in Rural, Small Towns During the Pandemic

Lindsey Wilson

Eating is not only an essential requirement for life, it is integral in many cultures, connects people, and is an outlet for self-expression. Since a typical person eats three meals a day, people devote a lot of time and energy to planning, preparing, and partaking in meals. Just as how our outfit choices can be affected by our surrounding environment and culture, so can our diet choices. When the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020, nearly everything about our daily routines were changed and that includes the food culture. In this slideshow presentation, I will present the food culture experienced by the people of my hometown, Boonville, IN,  in the past year compared to previous years. I aim to answer the question, “How did the role of food in culture change during the pandemic?” through a collection of pictures, quotes, cartoon images, and data charts inspired by my research. 

Many other studies have taken a global or national look at the role of food during the pandemic. I found several datasets that used surveys look at the popularity of certain food-related behaviors and compared them to the development and distribution of COVID-19 cases from which I drew inspiration from for my personal investigations. I interviewed a handful of people I know from Boonville and compared their responses to the trends seen in the larger studies. One interview was with a school superintendent, who was able to comment on the food security of local children and their families. Others described their eating patterns and attitudes towards food before and after the lockdowns. 

Boonville is a small, rural town in southwestern Indiana that consists mainly of farming and blue-collar families, and food limitations exist in this area because of the location, resources, and class of the population. This food insecurity has been heightened by the pandemic in many similar rural areas across the US. Studying rural communities in particular is important because the rural areas experience different needs and challenges than those in urban areas. From my investigation, I found the types of food and the ritual of eating has changed for many people since the beginning of the pandemic as a result of changes in other aspects of their lifestyle. Additionally, some people reported that they found they were turning to food for comfort in these stressful times, an example of how eating can be an emotional experience. I think Marco Ginanneschi said it best when he stated that food can be a mirror of society. Our eating habits typically reflect other aspects of our lives such as our access to quality food, our busy schedules, and even our emotions. Food consumption, whether in excess, too little, or of poor nutritional value, can greatly affect the health of a community, so it is important to understand relationships with food so we can work towards eliminating food insecurity and promote healthy, happy living.

Annotated Bibliography

Ginanneschi, Marco. “The Future of Food after Covid-19 through the Lens of Anthropology.” Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 2020, 1–3. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2020.094.027 .

Ginanneschi discusses aspects of food culture he sees have been affect by the pandemic in Italy. I was greatly inspired by this article because it helped me understand how integral food is within a society’s culture. He explains how food is a “mirror of society,” can serve as part of an identity, and has ritual value. In my project, I considered how food is reflective of the day-to-day lives in my hometown. 

Hartman Group. “COVID-19’s Impact on Eating.” 2020. https://www.hartman-group.com/documents/888213358 .

The Heartman Group is a consulting group for consumer analysis of food and beverage that is located in the state of Washington. This report presents data from a set of surveys on the “who, what, when, where, why, and how” of eating, comparing answers from spring 2019 and spring 2020. They saw noticeable increases in eating at home, eating meals with others, and stock-up grocery store trips, ordering delivery, and cooking. This data guided my choices in factors to look at during my investigation and gave me a comparison for my hometown’s data with the rest of the US. 

 Mayasari, Noor Rohmah, Dang Khanh Ho, David J. Lundy, Anatoly V. Skalny, Alexey A. Tinkov, I-Chun Teng, Meng-Chieh Wu, et al. “Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Security and Diet-Related Lifestyle Behaviors: An Analytical Study of Google Trends-Based Query Volumes.” Nutrients 12, no. 10 (2020): 3103. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12103103 .

In order to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the relationships of people with food, this study statistically analyzed Google search popularity of terms involving food security and food-related behaviors. Then, they compared the findings with the timeline of the pandemic. Results of this study show an increase in searches for food security related terms, such as “food banks” and “free food,” after the start of the lockdowns. Additionally, the start of quarantine correlated with decreased searches of restaurants and gyms and an increase in searches for delivery services and outdoor activities. As compared to the map of cases, they found the highest search numbers of food security and diet-related searchers in areas where cases were the highest. This study did not solely focus on the US, but took a global approach. The findings from this study informed me of what aspects of food culture people are most interested in and supported my hypothesis that the pandemic has affected how people are thinking about food. 

Rodriguez, Rosalie M., and Kamini Maraj Grahame. “Understanding Food Access in a Rural Community.” Food, Culture & Society 19, no. 1 (2016): 171–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/15528014.2016.1145010 .

This study, conducted as a mix of surveys and interviews, investigated how the challenges experienced by people who live in what is considered a “food desert” in western Pennsylvania. I chose this article because although my hometown seems to have more access to food than the community described in the study, many families still struggle to find healthy, quality, and affordable food choices. The challenges encountered by people in these types of areas are different than those presented in an urban setting.