Sustaining identities? Prolegomena for inquiry into contemporary foodways

As an essential yet also mundane everyday activity, eating in all cultures is expressive of both belief-systems and serial distinctions that exist within them. While this has been recognized in social science - and, particularly, anthropology many questions concerning the meanings of foodways within the overall patterns of ''post-modern" culture have yet to be tackled. We argue that a novel signification of food consumption is currently taking place: in a serial context where attrition of customary practices creates an extended range of options (which, notably, also represents a constraint), some of the needs of self-conscious individualation that arise within sark a context are met through eating practices based on personal choice rather than serial habit. In this article, the concept of an "eater's career" is used to explore theoretical and methodological dimensions of inquiry into uses of food that are significant for identity formation and maintenance in contemporary society.