Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2018

Culinary capital, taste and the foodies: food-based social distinction in Finland

Taru Lindblom

July 12th, 2018
18:30-20:00
Room 301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University


Studies have found culinary interest to be, at least to some degree, associated with social determinants (mainly high education and often high income) and cultural competency. Cappeliez and Johnston (2013), for example, demonstrate that those with more economic and cultural resources also more commonly have more versatile eating repertoires. In the same vein, people with a lower level of education, or those in less favorable social positions, often report not liking or even loathing some or many types of food (Warde 2011). One example is the case of sushi, and its adaptation and the extent to which culinary capital is employed in the process (Lindblom & Mustonen 2016).
My talk will present social distinctions based on food in a particular setting of small Scandinavian country, Finland. The presentation sheds light on the culinary taste and social distinction by addressing several recent empirical studies I have conducted on Finnish consumers. It will focus on such issues as which cuisines are perceived prestigious, how sushi echoes culinary capital in relation to one's educational and occupational class as well as how foodiesm is intertwined with the values and ethos of relatively young and modest consumer culture. Ultimately the presentation helps to understand the potential structures there exists regarding socially stratified ways of eating and consuming food.




*Dr Taru Lindblom* is an economic sociologist specializing in issues of consumption, taste and sociology of food. She received her Ph.D. in Economic Sociology from the Turku School of Economics (Finland) in 2007, and is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Tampere, Finland, studying stratification and dynamics of cultural taste and the leisure (research.uta.fi/dynamics). She is visiting Sophia University, ICC in June-July 2018, collaborating in the Nishiogiology project on foodscapes.
During her leisure Taru is busy eating and cooking through all the cuisines from East, South and South East Asia while binge-watching 'Ugly Delicious' and 'Terrace House' on Netflix. She cannot resist a good slice of carrot cake or any kind of cheap Japanese candy /dagashi/.



http://icc.fla.sophia.ac.jp/html/events/2018-2019/180712_Lindblom.pdf
Language: English / No Prior registration necessary / This talk is organized by Professor James Farrer (FLA) for Global Washoku Project



Institute of Comparative Culture (ICC) Sophia University
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