How Food Reflects the Social Hierarchy

Food can define civilization in many ways. One of the most significant ways is how it reflects a social hierarchy through the classes that people build by themselves, which is an essential part of civilization. Representatively, food can reflect social hierarchy to a large extent, most specifically in three ways: food stability, the choices of food, and the manners of serving and consuming. Not only in the past did food and social hierarchy relate, but also in the modern days, it still maintains its universality.

To start, consider food stability. Food is a necessity for everyone, and people cannot live without it. When food is enough, food can thus be appropriately distributed among society and promotes social order. In the early stage of the development of society, a stable food supply guaranteed people's primary livelihood, and they would not be concerned about the matter of filling their stomachs. Hence, they would have more time and effort to be used to improve other aspects of their well-being. Subsequently, there would be some forms of social structure, for instance, the monarchy, middle-class, and landlords. With the strategized balancing of food distribution, such social structure could be beneficial, leading to social stability.

In contrary to the stability of the food, if the food supply is disrupted, causing food shortages, it can lead to famine and potentially barbarism, and also lead to some uncontrollable circumstances such as extreme weather events and population booms, coupled with government ineffectiveness in dealing with such situations, will result in some catastrophes. In some severe cases, the significance of the established social hierarchy may diminish. In the Great Famine by Fagan[1], 'Famine caused people to sell their children and eat pine bark.' The author depicts a scene in which people from all classes fought for whatever food was left. They no longer cared about the aesthetics or even the choices of food. Their purpose of livelihood was reduced to mere survival: finding nutrients and sustenance. What was more horrible, some people would eat their children or other dead bodies - a complete loss of humanity. Consequently, food instability can potentially cause barbarism and cannibalism, like the description in the text Famine of 1315 by Johannes de Trokelowe et al.[2], 'Men and women in many places secretly ate their own children.' At this point, the benefits of social hierarchy become meaningless.

Besides, the choices of food can be a manifestation of a person's place within the social hierarchy. The options of food are not only based on individual preference but also constrained by social and economic circumstances. Population studies have shown that social classes have significant differences in food and nutrient intake.[3] People from the lower class are likely to consume whatever that is available, while upper-class citizens do not only focus on the flavor but also the aesthetic aspects of food. Take the history of pizza as an illustration. Around 600 B.C., in the kingdom of Naples, poor people were not able to afford food. As a result, they ate flatbreads with various toppings to solve hunger, which was then referred to as pizza. At that time, people could not afford food to fill their stomachs. Not only in Europe but also in Asia, such as in China, there also existed this phenomenon. There was a famous snack named Luzhu Huoshao[4], which was originated from the lower-class people because they could not afford the expensive pork belly at that time, they used pork offal instead. People put them together and seasoned them with spices to reduce hunger. When people were in poor financial condition, they did not care about the form that food took on or whether the appearance of the food looked attractive or not. They only cared about whether the food can prevent them from hunger.

Comparatively, the rich who consumed the luxury dishes did attach great importance to the choice of food to satisfy themselves. For the rich people, they cared so much about the look of the food, making it as 'complicated' as possible. In the Dream of red mansions by Xueqin Cao, one of the four great classical novels in China, a dish impresses the readers a lot. The dish, names Qie Xiang, is made from eggplant, being served by the owner of the house to their guest, who comes from the countryside and has never seen these deluxe dishes before. When the guest first tastes this, she can hardly believe it is made from eggplant because its sophisticated process has eliminated the taste of the eggplant: first the eggplant was peeled, then cut into small pieces, fried with crumbled chicken, mushrooms, new bamboo shoots, and all kinds of dried fruits, simmered with chicken soup, and the sesame oil, and mixed in the porcelain jar. When people want to eat it, they can take some and mix it with fried diced chicken. [5] In addition, in Italy, the meal Queen Victoria Risotto[6] represents the rich, which is an typical meal for the royal, and it is one of the favorite dishes of the British queen. The meal contains 11 components, and it takes more than an hour to cook, contains very intricate processes. Via the complexity of these particular dishes, we can see how much the upper-class people care about their choice and externalization of the food. Thus, through this scene, it clearly shows various social classes that implied the close connection with the social status of people.

Last but not least, people from lower social classes show less concern about their manner of consuming food because for them, filling their stomachs is an essential thing for livelihood. In contrast, people in the upper class tend to account for table manners as a crucial social etiquette. The luxurious manners of serving and consuming typically represent the upper class in society. In the passage In the Eye of the Beholder[7], the author draws a vivid picture of the king's feast, which lasted for almost a day. At the feast, they served various dishes one by one, all abundant and splendorous, served with silver cutlery, and hundreds of people serving the guests. This was a completely new experience for the author. In the feast, two distinct social classes could be identified. The king represented the top of the pyramid, while the writer represented the middle class. Additionally, the way these people ate was graceful and elegant: they all dressed formally and ate different courses with different tableware. In the text, 'All the food was apparently gilded… a live peacock with the arms of the queen of France encompassing its neck and the arms of the ladies of the French court draped over its body.' The description of the six courses all gives us a sense of luxury, where the king was trying to portray his supreme authority.

The multifarious etiquette does not only connect to the luxury food in the past, but the manners in fancy restaurants nowadays still exist, like the manners when people are in a luxury restaurant. When people are hosting an event, they have to be aware of their clothes, which should be appropriate for this occasion. When the waiters are serving food, people should lean to their left slightly, so that the server can place the food on the table from their right. When the owner is serving their guests, make sure the guests order first, and the owner can tell the waiters that 'Could you please bring my guests…' to be more polite. When the wine or drink arrives first, let the guest have the first drink, then follow the owner. The same manner also applies to the food, never eat before the guests begin eating. [8] Also, in a fancy restaurant, when holding some extravagant events, the order of serving matters a lot. There are up to twelve dishes in one meal: from the Hors d' oeuvres to the Amuse-bouche, then to the soup, and several sophisticated processes and the last to the Mignardise.[9] The components of a full course meal are very complicated and exquisite. In this way, food can reflect social hierarchy to a certain extent. Food can not only represent the social stratification of people but also represent how people perceive their wealth and how they intend to do with the food, by showing they are rich or poor.

In conclusion, food delineates social hierarchy in various ways: the accessibility of food, the appearance of food, and the modes of consuming food do help us to identify the social stratification of people from the past until now. The connection between food and social hierarchy is common in our daily life and will still be an important issue that is worth discussing.