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This paper analyzes interactions about food and eating among dual-earner middle-class families in Los Angeles, California. It synthesizes approaches from medical and linguistic anthropology to investigate how health is defined and negotiated both in interviews and everyday communication. In particular, we examine food interactions for what they can reveal about family life, conflict between parents and children over eating practices, and the everyday construction of health. It explores dinnertime episodes from five families to illustrate the flexibility and bargaining involved as parents and children struggle with health-related practices, values, and morality in everyday life. We compare naturally occurring video-taped interactions to parents’ evaluations of their families’ health elicited in interviews. |
