SERIOUS FEAST: VANCOUVER FOODIES IN GLOBALIZED CONSUMER SOCIETY Diana Ambrozas MA McGill University, 1992 BSc University of Toronto, 1986 DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the School of Communication O Diana Ambrozas 2003 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY December 2003 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. APPROVAL NAME Diana Ambrozas DEGREE PhD TITLE OF DISSERTATION: EXAMINING COMMITTEE: CHAIR: Prof. Zoe Q-gm-k Prof. Richard Gruneau Senior Supervisor, School of Cqmmunication, SFU Prof. Stephf Kline Superviso School of Communication, SFU Prof. ail Faurschou Supervisor Prof. Jerald Zaslove, Internal Examiner Professor Emeritus, English and Humanities, SFU Prof. Will Straw, External Examiner Acting Chair, Department of Art History and Communications Studies and Director, Graduate Program in Communications, McGill University 1 December 2003 DATE: PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENCE I hereby grant to Simon Fraser University the right to lend my thesis, project or extended essay (the title of which is shown below) to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. I further agree that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. v' Title of ThesislProjectlExtended Essay: Serious Feast: Vancouver Foodies in Globalized Consumer Society Author: (Signature) Diana Ambrozas (*. 2, tUY (Date Signed) Abstract Just three American magazines were devoted to food in 1973. while today the number has grown exponentially to over thirty. In this research project I tell the story of why this happened at this particular historical juncture. I am also interested in researching a particular locale. Specifically, this dissertation studies Vancouver foodies in the context of globalized consumer society. "Foodies" is a term used by the media and, grudgingly. by foodies themselves. It denotes people whose identity is partly formed by eating "good food" and by regularly consuming a range of products from cooking magazines to kitchen tools. On the basis of semi-structured interviews with twenty Vancouver area foodies as well as "tours" of their pantries and refrigerators, I discuss foodies' cooking. shopping, eating and reading practices. I also discuss their kitchen fantasies. In addition I analyze a typical issue of two favourite food magazines: Saveur and Bon AppPtit. The primary research question, which organizes the dissertation. asks about the structure of this social group? Is it predominantly a lifestyle formation coming together through leisure pursuits and consumption choices? Is it a taste culture stemming from a certain class fraction? Is it a subculture with alternative values? Or is it simply a target market identified by media and advertisers? Foodies tend to be cultural and social specialists who use cultural forms of distinction over socio-economic forms; in Bourdieu's terms they use "ostentatious simplicity" instead of conspicuous consumption. For example, their consumption of exotic or expensive regional specialties, like pomegranate molasses and.fleur de Camargue salt, displays their cultural capital. At the same time their consumption of local, artisanally- produced organic food symbolically resists industrial agribusiness and genetic modification (GM) technology. Core foodies, such as upscale restaurant chefs, are moreover explicitly critical of both and may also be politically active in the organic or slow food movements. Foodies use their support of alternative farming practices as another sign of "culinary capital." Cultural distinction thus works to reproduce consumerist values as well as to resist them. I explore these tensions at the level of everyday lived experience. .. 111 for Andrew Acknowledgments I would like to thank Rick Gruneau for his patience and guidance, Steve Kline for his intellectual engagement and Gail Faurschou for her unstinting support of every kind. I would also like to thank James Compton, Jan Hadlaw, DeNel Sedo and P.L. Ragde, for making helpful suggestions on early drafts, as well as other friends and colleagues in the School of Communication: Maria Bakardjieva, Deb Pentecost, David Firman and Bev Best. As well thanks to Neena Shahani, Denyse Zenner and, of course, to Lucie Menkveld who makes everything possible. ... No one in my generation was More skilled in eating. Whether oysters had been born At Circei, by the Lucrine rocks, or spawned on a farm In Richborough, he had learned to grasp with the first bite, And would at a glance tell the seashore of an urchin (Juvenal(55-138 AD) in Revel 1982: 38) ... and you understand about the difference between mussels from Normandy and mussels from PEl and mussels we have here on the West Coast and you understand the difference between the lobsters on the East Coast and lobster coming from Normandy and - langoustine - and you understand the flavour differences, because they're subtle, but you understand ... (Feenie in Shikatani 1999: 33) Table of Contents .. Approval ............................................................................................. ...-11 Abstract .............................................................................................. 111 Dedication ............................................................................................iv Acknowledgments ...................................................................................v Quotation ............................................................................................. vi.. Table of Contents ............................................................................................................vn List of Tables .................................................................................................................... ix Glossary ............................................................................................................................. x I "Good food for good living". ......................................................................................... 1 The context of consumer capitalist society ......................................................................... 6 Food consumption and foodies .........................................................................................11 Methods .............................................................................................................................14 The cast of characters ........................................................................................................19 Overview ...........................................................................................................................20 2 ((1 am a foodie but:" Food-centred identities and lifestyles in Vancouver ............................................................................................................ 23 A reasonable knowledge: New American cuisine ............................................................ 24 A passion for food .............................................................................................................29 (A passion for) Growing ............................................................................................29 (A passion for) Learning ............................................................................................31 (A passion for) Experimenting .................................................................................32 (A passion for) Cooking from scratch ....................................................................... 36 (A passion for) Eating ................................................................................................38 (A passion for) Talking .............................................................................................39 Dinner Parties ....................................................................................................................42 How to become a foodie ...................................................................................................45 Growing up ................................................................................................................47 Dining out ..................................................................................................................50 . Moving to the big city ................................................................................................51 Meeting friends and new relations .............................................................................52 Travelling ...................................................................................................................53 Cooking professionally .............................................................................................. 54 < iI am a foodie but" ..........................................................................................................57 Foodie lifestyles ................................................................................................................61 Some thoughts on Giddens ...............................................................................................69