As a signifier of social identity, values and change, food can play an important, if often subtle role in communicating key ideas in popular media. In this paper, I conduct a cross-national analysis of food as symbol and food as text in media using two popular TV series – Gilmore Girls, from the United States, and 12 Years Promise, from South Korea. Though distinctive in their plots, these series cover similar themes such as: mother-daughter relationships; single parenthood; pregnancy out of marriage; subversion of defined gendered roles; social class; and upward mobility. Though neither of these series features food as a central subject other than as the medium for the occupations of several main characters (chef, diner owner, dumpling maker and franchise owner), food nonetheless serves as a mode of communication among the various personalities. Lorelei from the Gilmore Girls, for example, questions whether she is driven by her parents’ disapproval in a conversation with her daughter and describes that eating her first Pop-tart “tasted like freedom, and rebellion and independence” (Season 7, Episode 3). From forms of resistance to prescribed class and gendered roles to expressions of nationalism and populism, food also speaks to the audience and invokes a broader social and historical context. In 12 Years Promise, kim-chi repeatedly makes an appearance both as symbol of Korean pride and the foundation of good health. It is not coincidental that half of the episodes take place during the 2002 Korean World Cup thus signifying and calling attention to the internationalization of Korean food and culture. As such, I contextualize and incorporate my analysis of food as language in popular media within social and historical changes of food systems.
About the presenterTanya K. Casas
Tanya Casas is Associate Professor of Sociology and the Academic Director of Graduate Policies Studies at Delaware Valley University where she specializes in political economy and development policy. Her research interests include the intersection of development policy, extractive economies, coloniality and social justice particularly within indigenous communities. She is also interested in food security and food sovereignty, environmental justice, and global social change. Tanya is an active member of the DelVal Food Systems Institute.