Fiddes, Nick

2013-06-26T13:43:44Z

2013-06-26T13:43:44Z

1989

In Britain, and in cultures around the world, meat's significance extends beyond what might be anticipated from its nutritional utility. By looking at the academic and popular literature, and through a series of loosely structured interviews, this study investigates the range of ideas that people hold about meat in modem Britain for evidence as to what it is that makes animal flesh such an esteemed foodstuff. The principle conclusion is that meat's pre-eminence derives from its being a "natural" choice for human societies to use to express their control over the natural environment -a value which has long been important in Western culture. It is for this reason, for example, that we commonly relate the origins of "civilised" humanity to the beginnings of hunting or of farming, and this is likewise why meat has been a symbol of affluence, strength, and virility. Our proscription of cannibalism, our unwillingness to eat pets, and the common reference to meat in sexual symbolism, are all shown to conform to this analysis. The principle of environmental control is also shown to be a significant factor underpinning our more usual explanations of trends in the meat system. Economics; health and nutrition; ethical and religious influences; and ecological concerns, are all shown to have a significant symbolic component in addition to their overtly practical meaning.

278901

http://hdl.handle.net/1842/7171

eng

University of Edinburgh

Sociology

Human

services

Commerce

Food

Meat: a natural symbol

PhD Doctor of Philosophy