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.