ABSTRACT
This chapter examines what we eat and drink. Both have direct physical implications for health, as well as a key symbolic role in our lives. Nurturance for survival begins at birth. Thereafter, it is mediated through relationships with others, who feed us provide a wider context of growth and development which shape what people eat and drink. That context includes social norms about dietary content and the availability of foodstuffs. Both starvation from lack of food in some places and the obesogenic diet linked to industrial profiteering in developed countries are relevant to consider in this regard. The focus of this chapter is sometimes dealt with in health promotion terms including moral exhortations to eat healthily. This chapter addresses wider questions about knowledge, social relations, food preparation and daily dietary habits.
