ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces three theoretical approaches that help us think about the role of coffee, its meanings, and its popularity around the world. The first approach, presented by Claude Levi-Strauss, proposes that societies follow similar patterns for interpreting foods due to the way the human mind works. By understanding the mental structures that underlie perceptions, we gain insight into how societies assign values and meanings to food. The second approach, developed by Pierre Bourdieu, examines taste in food and other cultural preferences as emerging from social-class differences, and the tensions and contrasts among groups in complex societies. The third approach investigates the connections within and across societies to understand the uses, ideas, and meanings of food, and explores the economics of global trade. It asks how these connections shape our lives, and what the implications are for the environment, local and global society, and the ongoing evolution of the modern world system.
