"Vis mig dit køleskab..." – om mad og kulturanalyse

Abstract

“Show me your refrigerator...” Food is not simply a question of nutrition, but also of culture. This raises problems for governmental and public health propaganda, as it tends to neglect the complexity of taste and the many-faced preferences among people. These preferences are not only designated by health and national economy but also of the wish to combine meaning with on the one hand the notion of ”a good life” and sociability during the meals and on the other hand status and distinction. This implies a self-governed combination of both innovation and tradition, where e.g. local and regional food-preferences are combined with global innovations. The governmental universalism of propaganda is contrasted against the particularism and cultural complexity of people’s everyday life. The article raises, in general, the question of the relation between the general and the specific when working with cultural analyses.