The Juxtaposition of Comiendo Bien and Nutrition

Abstract

There warrants a discussion regarding how nutrition discourses transform lay health practices. Here, I discuss how the adaptation of nutrition discourses among Latina immigrants in San Francisco produces a negotiation between a discourse of nourishment and a discourse of satisfaction in their practice of comiendo bien (eating well). The discourse of satisfaction refers to eating as a way to fulfill symbolic, material or embodied desires, while a discourse of nourishment focuses on supplying the body with nutrients. Negotiating between these discourses transforms comiendo bien if: (1) Latino immigrant families have the resources to adhere to nutritional recommendations; and (2) the adherence to the nutritional recommendation transgresses a negative emotional or physical experience. Appropriating nutrition discourses produces food restrictions that disengage the body from culture and relegate eating to an alienated task. Although a nutritional approach to comiendo bien produces conflict between satisfaction and nourishment, “healthy eating” remains a juxtaposition between satisfaction and nourishment.

Keywords:

• Latino immigrants
• lay knowledge
• globalization
• nutrition
• negotiation
• situational analysis

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Airín D. Martínez

Airín D. Martínez is an assistant professor at the Arizona State University School of Transborder Studies. School of Transborder Studies, Arizona State University, Interdisciplinary-B, B160J, 1120 South Cady Mall, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA ([email protected]).