What Your Food Says About You: Class and Taste

What Does Your Food Reveal?

At dinner parties, food choice is the most visible medium through which class and taste are publicly displayed, according to Mellor, Blake, and Crane (2010). Serving certain dishes signals more than personal preference — it positions the host within social hierarchies.

The focus is no longer — as it was with Bourdieu (1984) — the classic distinction between haute cuisine and mass-produced food. Johnston and Baumann (2007) show that the logic of legitimation has shifted: food is now considered “tasteful” when it can be classified as authentic (traditional, regional, artisanal) or exotic (foreign-culinary, unusual). The Mellor participant who says “I don’t go for the Tesco cheeses, I go to the farmers’ market” performs exactly this move: she marks authenticity through local small-scale production.

Bourdieu and Cultural Capital

Three dimensions interact. First: provenance. Local producers, organic markets, and “small-scale production” are portrayed as morally superior — non-industrial, driven by a “love of farming.” Second: unusualness. Exotic ingredients (sumac, yuzu, authentic kimchi) signal culinary cosmopolitanism. Third: knowledge. A host who can tell the story of a wine or explain how a cheese was aged demonstrates cultural capital that cannot be bought but must be acquired.

The exclusionary effect is intentional: these food forms are more expensive and require knowledge. This makes them “ring-fenced” for middle-class consumers (Bugge 2003). Anyone who does not master the codes — brings the wrong wine at the wrong time, fails to recognize the cheese — risks a social sanction in the form of unreturned invitations. Food choice is thus closely tied to the overall performance of class identity.

Conscious and Unconscious Signals

The analysis stands in the tradition of Bourdieu’s “Distinction” (1984), Savage et al. (2001), Skeggs (2004), and Lawler (2005). It extends the tradition by observing that distinction camouflages itself morally — as an ecological, artisanal, or ethical choice. This camouflage makes it harder to address the class-specific character of “good taste” openly.

The study is British-regional; the exact markers of distinction vary culturally (in Norway, for instance, wild-caught fish and forest berries play roles similar to local cheese in the UK). Critics from sociological theories of individualization argue that food choice today is shaped more by individual identity projects than by class affiliation. The movement toward “comfort food” and “trash gourmet” in parts of urban subcultures also contradicts the linear exclusivity model.

Menu Choice as Distinction

The current state of research on this aspect is summarized below.

Does Food Always Have to Be a Statement?

The current state of research on this aspect is summarized below.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do food choices say about me?

At dinner parties, food choice is the most visible medium through which class and taste are publicly displayed, according to Mellor, Blake, and Crane (2010).

Does my menu signal status?

The focus is no longer — as it was with Bourdieu (1984) — the classic distinction between haute cuisine and mass-produced food.

How does education influence food choices?

Three dimensions interact. First: provenance. Local producers, organic markets, and “small-scale production” are portrayed as morally superior — non-industrial, driven by a “love of farming.” Second: unusualness.

Is it okay to cook simply?

The exclusionary effect is intentional: these food forms are more expensive and require knowledge. This makes them “ring-fenced” for middle-class consumers (Bugge 2003).