Changing food habits of New Zealanders of European descent 1870-1970 : an anthropological examination of the mechanisms of cultural change

Abstract

Between 1870 and 1970 both the culture and food habits of New Zealand European society underwent change. In the past food habits have been examined using either an historical approach or consumption and nutritional data. These approaches however have not explained how change has occurred. Anthropologists working in other countries have approached this problem in several different ways. A structural approach to meals and the meal system gives answers to why food habits are slow to change. But this approach does not address change. A sociological approach which takes account of changes in the society explains how the interplay of societal factors can cause change but it does not account for the stability of food habits over long periods. This study combines these approaches to give an answer to the phenomenon of stability and change which characterised European New Zealanders' food habits from 1870-1970. Evidence of change in food habits and in the culture was linked to changing social conditions, ideas about food and changes in technology. Material on the topic was collected from written sources - in particular recipe books were found to be a valuable tool. In this study the evidence established that while all of the factors mentioned above played a role in the transformation of food habits in European New Zealand society, substantive change at any one time was linked to the social conditions that influenced women's role in the household