Honors Theses
Date of Award
2016
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Carrie V. Smith
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
Food is a necessary component of our lives as we need it to live. However, food can be seen as a relatively important, unconscious or not, factor in interpersonal relationships. We investigated the role of food and cooking in modern, romantic relationships through surveying 68 individuals from a junior college in the southern region of the United States. We predicted that there was a connection between food and dating and relationships and concluded this by exploring the social stigmas surrounding food, the gendered perceptions of these stigmas, and perception of food in a certain context to assess the meaning of food in the context of relationships. Our study revealed that food is romantically charged in the sense of what time food is present, meal types and, simply, the act of cooking. There are gender differences surround food respectively for women. While men remain indifferent, women perceived certain stigmas differently and act accordingly. Overall, this study provides an exploratory assessment of the social context of food. Keywords: food, cooking, romantic relationships
Recommended Citation
Cook, Breana, "Food for Thought: The Role of Food in Romantic Relationships" (2016). Honors Theses. 137.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/137
Accessibility Status
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