User:VoidedComplication/sandbox

Much can be said about who a person is and where they come from by the food they eat. The quantity and most importantly the quality of food, is available at different amounts and levels depending on the social class a person belongs to.

Food is important part to not only the health of a person's body but also the health of their mind. Research and studies have shown that with a healthy diet a person can live a long life with relatively regular to high levels of energy. A well balanced diet can help prevent medical issues such as high cholesterol, heart attack and diabetes, and can also prevent mental issues such as depression or anxiety.

According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NIH) a healthy diet includes: A heavy emphasis on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat dairy products. It also includes proteins such as lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts. It also requires the person to limit saturated and trans fats, sodium, and added sugars. And above all, the portion size of each category must be balanced in the recommended amounts.

However, people who are considered to be in the working or lower class of society, usually do not have the means to attain the types of food that people in the upper class or even middle class have. As a result there is a shocking difference in the diets of people from different Social Classes.

The food quality and quantity of someone in the working class tends to lean more towards the saturated and trans fat, with high levels of sodium and added sugars foods, while someone from the upper class enjoys a more balanced diet. Many factors play into this comparison, however the main issues is the availability and quantity of a variety of food groups to each class.

The working class is confined by time, money, and/or location of markets. As a result, they tend to purchase the most convenient and cost effective food, which is processed, and cheap.

Whereas the upper classes has the means and ability to purchase a more balanced diet with grocery stores and markets more readily available in their neighborhoods, as well as having the income to support such a diet.

People from different social classes eat different foods. Not all foods are available to everyone. People start to learn to like foods that are appropriate to their class while they are children. Based on the food that people decide to consume, their social class position is often revealed.[1]

People from the middle classes generally enjoy healthier diets than their lower class counterparts.[2] Part of the explanation for this is that middle-class parents tend to be less permissive in their food choices, are less concerned with the cost of food products, and are more attuned to issues of health.[2] However, permissiveness, health and cost considerations are insufficient to account for the social class variation in food consumption.[2]

The significance of a food surplus in class demarcation ought to be highlighted in this section. In antiquity, those (typically upper classes) hoarding a sizeable surplus of harvests were granted experimental agencies leading to the development of elite cuisines. This principle may be contextualized by food historian Rachel Laudan’s assertion that “the humble, constantly at risk of real hunger, had every reason not to experiment with innovative cooking techniques” due to a scarce reserve of harvests.[3]

Social class differences in food consumption are not necessarily static. A study of Finnish consumption patterns for the period from 1979 to 1990 found that across all classes the consumption of butter, high-fat milk, coffee and sugar had decreased and the consumption of vegetables had increased. From the mid-1980s, social class differences in food consumption had diminished with the lower social classes following consumption patterns established by the upper classes.[4]