Food as Communication

Food as Communication
Carlnita P. Greene and Janet M. Cramer
Peter Lang Publishing; First printing edition (January 31, 2011)

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communication is the process by which we understand the
world and our attempts to convey that understanding to others through both
verbal and nonverbal language

As Roland Barthes has written, food is
a system of communication, a body of images, a protocol of usages, situations, and
behavior. Information about food must be gathered wherever it can be found: by direct
observation in the economy, in techniques, usages and advertising; and by indirect
observation in the mental life of a given society. (cited in Counihan and Van Esterik,
2008, p. 29)

food is one of the most readily-available 
symbols that we have at our disposal, which can be viewed from both the 
perspectives of communication and culture

communication studies can offer new insights into how food provides much 
more than nourishment, or mere sustenance, because food demonstrates a 

whole host of social, cultural, and political phenomena