Russo Food Choice and Social Norms: Module 6

One situation that I fell into a social norm was the day of the Super Bowl. My roommates and I invited people over to watch the game. When we were figuring out what food to get, we fell under the social norm that everybody orders pizza and wings to watch the Super Bowl. This is the typical food for any occasion that somebody invites people over to watch a football game. Ever since I was young, pizza and wings have always been the unofficial party food. Pizza and wings are not nutritious, but they fall under the social input of good tasting food. The poor nutritional values of pizza and wings are never thought of when being consumed. Another social input they categorize under is the socialization that occurs as people share this food because it is associated with parties and hangouts.

Ordering food such as pizza and wings for watching sporting events or even hanging out with friends is directly tied to obesity. We live in a sports-dominated culture. Americans love to hang out, watch TV and eat. We do this very often and consume copious amounts of food every time. In America, this is a big issue. People tend to order food, which is usually unhealthy, instead of making more nutritious meals for watching sporting events. Ordering food is much easier and convenient than self-cooking. Unfortunately, I believe we as a country tend to suffer from another societal norm which would be laziness. Nobody wants to put effort into anything, so they pick the easiest option. In this scenario, picking up the phone and having food delivered to the door portrays the societal issue of laziness. Laziness ultimately leads to obesity.

Food Diagram

3 thoughts on “Russo Food Choice and Social Norms: Module 6

  1. Hi Anthony, I’m Natalie attending University park and originally from West Chester PA. Here is my link if you want to check out my blog: http://sites.psu.edu/geog30/2016/03/04/natalie-hall-mod-6/
    I chose obesity as well, and also brought up the idea of “easy” or convenient. It’s crazy how much influential social norms are to eat unhealthy foods, almost like a tradition. Poor nutritional foods are the easiest to acquire, and unfortunately, some of the best tasting. Your diagram is very easy to follow and well executed. Have a good break.

  2. Hi Anthony, I’m Samantha and I took the time to read your post this week. I like how you brought football into the equation. As a casual fan of this sport, I really enjoyed reading your post. Perhaps it is not the fact that people are lazy when they order their food, but rather the convenience factor? Americans, especially, do not find/have the time to make healthy food from scratch.

    Feel free to check out my blog at: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/03/04/learning-activity-food-choice-social-norms/

  3. Anthony,
    My name is Brian Peck and you can view, if you wish, my post for this week at http://sites.psu.edu/geog30/2016/03/01/locavore/.
    I saw your entry and wanted to comment on it because it seems to contrast my post in a complimentary manner. I wrote about self sufficiency and you wrote about, quite literally, the exact opposite. There have been so many times where I have had friends and family over to watch a UFC fight. The question always, always comes down to ‘what are we going to eat?’ I have always enjoyed cooking and did it professionally for a good number of years so we would always make our own food. It was a lot of work, but if you enjoy it and are making good food it isnt so bad. I agree with you that people tend to take the easiest route and pick up the phone. I think if people would make an effort to go from ‘hang out, watch tv and eat food’ to ‘hang out, MAKE food and watch tv’ you would have healthier eating habits!

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