ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some of the social and cultural influences on taste and food habits. It could plausibly be argued that changes of diet are more important than changes of dynasty/religion. Pierre Bourdieu argues that the distinction between social groups, especially classes, in their tastes for food and other commodities may become a badge of their identity. Steven Allen in particular wrote a book on regional tastes that was full of assumptions about the spatial structure of material culture. While food habits and food systems may not be constitutive of spatially bounded cultures, nevertheless there are regional geographies of food production, food marketing and food preparation in which place and space play an important role. One of the most striking expressions of identity through food is the love affair of the Japanese with rice. People who live in the wealthier countries have in recent years become used to a barrage of information about food disseminated through a variety of media.
