FLEKSITARER OG PURISTER: Eksistensæstetiske spisepraksisser i Cambridge, Massachusetts

Abstract

Dil Bach: Flexitarians and Purists:

Aesthetic Existential Practices of the Self

in Cambridge, Massachusetts

This article suggests that some of the insights

developed by Foucault in his analysis of

antiquity can provide an alternative

perspective on modem health-oriented

eating practices. The author demonstrates

this through field material from Cambridge,

MA, USA. In her analysis of two local

natural food stores, the author shows that the

stores do not impose ultimate prescriptions,

but rather encourage an “aesthetics of

existence”. The shoppers thus engage in

voluntary “practices of the self’ in which

expert advice participates in a reflexive

interplay between the shoppers and their

bodies. In conclusion the author notes that

the aesthetics of existence should not be seen

as a “pure” expression of autonomy and

freedom. Not only are the expert discourses

deeply embedded in commercial relations,

they also forcefully place people in the role

of reflexive subjects.