The Anthropology of Food.

The anthropology of food differs from many other sub-disciplines because it focuses on the study of food within a culture, as well as cross culturally. Food requires hunting, gathering, distribution, storage, serving, disposal, preperation, and display as well as a thousand other aspects. ALL of these are social activities, the study of which can reveal volumes of information pertaining to interaction within a society or culture.
There are also direct coorelations that can be seen with agriculture, native diet, technology, feasts and festivities, cross cultural influence, and so on. Who would have thought that so much knowledge and information could have been derived from something so simple as eating?
I must admit, when I first heard of the anthropology of food, I laughed a little under my breath. After further research though, I became aware of how valuable this field is. Eating, and everything that it involves, is an excercise and practice that every single culture on the face of the Earth shares. It is the differences, the subtle nuances, the similarities that can be seen which provide a basis for comparison for nearly every culture. So much can be learned from this field, I am suprised not more focus has been given to this oasis of knowledge.