Bridging Acculturation and Omnivorism: How Identity is Manifested Using Food among Mexican-Origin and White Americans

• In Event: 3551 - Section on Sociology of Culture Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: 3. Cultural Taste and Omnivorousness

Abstract

The symbolic nature of food and its use to signal both ethnic and socioeconomic identity has been written about extensively by sociologists, but this research is largely conducted by researchers in different sociological subfields. The goal of this study is to connect ideas from these subfields in an investigation of how Mexican-origin adults in the U.S. use food to signal ethnic and social status as a function of their ethnicity, generational status and socioeconomic status. In addition, we investigate whether and how they signal status differently than U.S.-born whites. Our study utilizes data from 1,865 1.0 generation Mexican origin adults, 631 1.5 generation Mexican-origin adults, 1,615 Mexican-Americans and 9,421 U.S.-born whites (total N = 13,532) who participated in the 2003/04–2016/17 continuous National Health and Nutrition Examination Studies (NHANES). We predict two indicators of food consumption that signal ethnicity (consuming typical American food and Mexican food) and three indictors that signal lowbrow (fast food) and more elite (healthy food and organic food) food consumption. Our results suggest marked variation in how white and Mexican-origin adults from different generations consume food to signal ethnic and socioeconomic distinction.

Authors

• Michelle Frisco, Penn State University

• Gary Adler, Pennsylvania State University

• Jennifer Van Hook, Pennsylvania State University