Eating Dirt

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In many cultures, non-food items are consumed because they are thought to add some value to the human body. In other situations, people consume food items, not for their nutritional value but because it provides them with some other kind of benefit. The role of food varies between countries and cultures, and may hold different connotation from what is thought to be normal. In the article ‘Eating Dirt’, Gerald Callahan explains how food is a central aspect of life, how the significance goes beyond being a source of nutrients for our bodies, and that there are social and religious symbolic meanings behind it.

Geophagy, known as the act of eating dirt, is considered normal in animals because there are no adverse effects, and it is sometime beneficial. …show more content…

Alcohol is a unique form of embodied material culture and it is widely used as a psychoactive agent in the world. This substance has been fundamentally important socially, economically, politically, and religiously for years (citation, pp. 229). Recent studies emphasize drinking through politics, and gender, highlighting the socially integrative role of alcohol (citation, pp. 229). Drinking alcohol is culturally specific, and similar to food, it is a form of embodied material culture. The consumption of alcohol usually involves a set of social rules and beliefs that are emotionally charged (citation, pp. 232). Similar to the article “Eating Dirt”, many people drink because of the effects this substance has on their bodies. Geophagy is associated with several psychological abnormalities and can potentially lead to illness, likewise consuming alcohol has psychological effects, altering the brains chemistry, and because it is a depressant it slows down the functions of your body. Furthermore, alcohol serves to mark social categories, boundaries, and identity (citation, pp. 235). However, consuming alcohol is not viewed simply as social organizations, nor as expressions of traditional identity, but rather as practices where personal and group identities are created, embodied, and transformed (citation, pp. 325). Alcohol is an important form of embodied material culture and the most widely used type of psychoactive agent worldwide, it is an essentially important social, economic, and political

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