FOUR - DAILY ECONOMY AND SOCIAL REPRODUCTION

Summary

“No,” he said, “look, it's very, very simple … all I want … is a cup of tea. You are going to make one for me. Keep quiet and listen.”

And he sat. He told the Nutri-Matic about India, he told it about China, he told it about Ceylon. He told it about broad leaves drying in the sun. He told it about silver teapots. He told it about summer afternoons on the lawn. He told it about putting in the milk before the tea so it wouldn't get scalded. He even told it (briefly) about the history of the East India Company.

“So that's it, is it?” said the Nutri-Matic when had finished.

“Yes,” said Arthur, “that is what I want.”

“You want the taste of dried leaves boiled in water?”

“Er, yes. With milk.”

“Squirted out of a cow?”

“Well, in a manner of speaking I suppose …”

“I'm going to need some help with this one,” said the machine tersely.

Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. (Adams 1986, p. 161)

THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF FOODWAYS: FROM CALORIES TO CUISINE

Social life is generated by the operation of entwined institutions, each of which combines a specific field of economic or practical activity, a set of beliefs and social relations, human experience, and an encounter with material things which provide resistance and form to our agency. Among such institutions, food is one of the most central.