Political Appetites: Food As Rhetoric in American Politics
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University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2013 Political Appetites: Food as Rhetoric in American Politics Alison Perelman University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Perelman, Alison, "Political Appetites: Food as Rhetoric in American Politics" (2013). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 907. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/907 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/907 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Political Appetites: Food as Rhetoric in American Politics Abstract Food is mobilized as a site of political communication. The framing of food as politically relevant is possible because food is deeply rooted in a particular cultural context; because food is symbolic of its culinary community, therefore, it can be deployed as a form of strategic messaging. For that reason food has played a role in political campaigning since the earliest American elections. However major changes to the conditions under which politics is undertaken have altered the messages sent through food. Specifically, the emergence of image-based campaigning and a taste-based notion of elitism has created an environment in which food politics is designed to demonstrate a political figure's connection to, or disconnection from, middle class American culture. This qualitative study investigates three sites--diner politics, food faux pas, and the regulation of food--where food and politics intersect. Data for this analysis consists of textual analysis of over 400 articles published in newspapers and magazines; semi-structured interviews with public health advocates, political officials, and strategists; and candidate speeches and peripheral campaign materials. Analysis of these data demonstrates that political strategists deploy food tastes commonly associated with down-home culinary culture--namely tastes for diners, bars, and local restaurants--as a way to present their candidate as in touch with average Americans. Conversely, food faux pas committed by presidential candidates are treated by their opponents and the press as evidence of the erring candidate's elite food tastes. But food tastes do not carry the same symbolic weight in legislative contexts as they do in campaign contexts. This is because food tastes invoke little symbolism for legislators. Even so, proposed food policy legislation can nonetheless be framed by the press as a site of symbolic conflict if and when oppositional oicesv adopt the "food police" narrative. In sum, the mobilization of food's symbolic value is motivated by the desire to frame political figures according to their food tastes. This is the case because such a narrative maps onto the increasing role of personal tastes in the cultural organizing of the American public. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Communication First Advisor Michael X. Delli Carpini Keywords Campaigns, Culture War, Food, Politics, Regulation, Taste Subject Categories Communication This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/907 POLITICAL APPETITES: FOOD AS RHETORIC IN AMERICAN POLITICS Alison Perelman A DISSERTATION in Communication Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2013 Supervisor of Dissertation Co-Supervisor of Dissertation _____________________ _________________________ Michael X. Delli Carpini, Katherine Sender, Professor Professor of Communication and The University of Auckland Walter H. Annenberg Dean Graduate Group Chairperson __________________________ Joseph Turow, Robert Lewis Shayon Professor of Communication, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies Dissertation Committee: Michael X. Delli Carpini, Professor of Communication and Walter H. Annenberg Dean Katherine Sender, Professor The University of Auckland Sharrona Pearl, Assistant Professor of Communication POLITICAL APPETITES: FOOD AS RHETORIC IN AMERICAN POLITICS © 2013 Alison Perelman iii DEDICATION To Amaya, To my parents, To my committee Thank you. iv ABSTRACT POLITICAL APPETITES: FOOD AS RHETORIC IN AMERICAN POLITICS Alison Perelman Michael X. Delli Carpini Katherine Sender Food is mobilized as a site of political communication. The framing of food as politically relevant is possible because food is deeply rooted in a particular cultural context; because food is symbolic of its culinary community, therefore, it can be deployed as a form of strategic messaging. For that reason food has played a role in political campaigning since the earliest American elections. However major changes to the conditions under which politics is undertaken have altered the messages sent through food. Specifically, the emergence of image-based campaigning and a taste-based notion of elitism has created an environment in which food politics is designed to demonstrate a political figure’s connection to, or disconnection from, middle class American culture. This qualitative study investigates three sites—diner politics, food faux pas, and the regulation of food— where food and politics intersect. Data for this analysis consists of textual analysis of over 400 articles published in newspapers and magazines; semi-structured interviews with public health advocates, political officials, and strategists; and candidate speeches and peripheral campaign materials. Analysis of these data demonstrates that political v strategists deploy food tastes commonly associated with down-home culinary culture— namely tastes for diners, bars, and local restaurants—as a way to present their candidate as in touch with average Americans. Conversely, food faux pas committed by presidential candidates are treated by their opponents and the press as evidence of the erring candidate’s elite food tastes. But food tastes do not carry the same symbolic weight in legislative contexts as they do in campaign contexts. This is because food tastes invoke little symbolism for legislators. Even so, proposed food policy legislation can nonetheless be framed by the press as a site of symbolic conflict if and when oppositional voices adopt the “food police” narrative. In sum, the mobilization of food’s symbolic value is motivated by the desire to frame political figures according to their food tastes. This is the case because such a narrative maps onto the increasing role of personal tastes in the cultural organizing of the American public. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER 1: TELL ME WHAT YOU EAT AND I WILL TELL YOU WHAT YOU ARE ............... 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................... 1 Political Polarization, Culture War Rhetoric, and the Communicative Capacity of Food.............. 6 Why Do We Care About Tastes? Class, Culture, and Political Polarization in the United States. 6 What are Food Tastes? And What Can They Tell Us About Political Figures? ............................... 13 How Does Food Communicate? ......................................................................................................................... 18 What Does It Mean to Eat American? ............................................................................................................. 22 Method .................................................................................................................................................................. 29 Textual Analysis ...................................................................................................................................................... 31 Interviews .................................................................................................................................................................. 33 Reflexivity .................................................................................................................................................................. 35 Project Summary and Overview ................................................................................................................. 36 CHAPTER 2: A CANDIDATE WALKS INTO A DINER… ................................................................ 40 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 40 The Personalized Candidate: Image-based Campaigns, Candidate Tastes, and Journalists’ Professional Conventions ..................................................................................................................................... 44 History of Diner Politics ................................................................................................................................. 53 Anatomy of a Diner Stop ................................................................................................................................ 56 The Diner as a Stage: Diners as Sites of Symbolic Politicking ........................................................ 61 And Everyone Plays His Part: Retail Campaigning as Symbolic