At the Clarke Forum’s third event on Oct. 10, Psyche Williams-Forson, an American Studies professor at the University of Maryland, discussed how food has become an intimate part of people’s homes, specifically in relation to African-American food culture.

“Food is fun, [but it is] also a serious area of study,” Williams-Forson asserted.

Willams-Forson compared food policing, or monitoring what other people or groups eat, to violating a person’s intimate space, akin to removing personal objects from someone’s home.

According to Williams-Forson, “Food is a part of the constellation of objects” that determines one’s self-concept and perceived role in society. Specifically, food serves a “self-enhancing purpose” that is unique to each person across lines of race, gender and ethnicity.

Understanding and analyzing the history of African-American food, Williams-Forson emphasized, is crucial in order to negate such dated stereotypes as African American food being “made from scraps.”

Williams-Forson cautioned against the misleading nature of stereotypes related to certain types of food. She stated that although some stereotypes, especially regarding the nature of some food types and their relation to obesity, are true to some degree, they paint “incomplete stories” in the minds of others. It is important to consider “cultural sustainability” in the context of food, she went on to say, because in so doing we realize that “what is good for others is not good for all,” and that food is multidimensional and has different significances for certain groups. Understanding and analyzing the history of African-American food, Williams-Forson emphasized, is crucial.

According to Williams-Forson, the intersection of race and food is important to understand because food customs are integral to our identities. In order to tackle relevant issues related to food such as obesity, we must consider the social, political, and racial factors “instead of just science and policy,” stated Williams-Forson.

Though her presentation focused on the food histories and experiences of Black communities, Williams-Forson contended that her focus on African-American food studies could be considered a “primer” of sorts for other groups.

“Moralization and righteous soapboxing of foods,” she explained, in which everyone thinks they are food experts, has become common, and in doing so creates a sort of “food hysteria” in which we are quick to ascribe labels to different types of foods.  According to Williams-Forson, using terms such as “clean” and “healthy” when describing certain foods can be detrimental because it implies that other foods are “unclean” and “unhealthy.”  Williams-Forson maintained that this sort of thinking has many negative repercussions, namely food shaming and food policing.

In closing, Williams-Forson highlighted the unfavorable aspects of binary thinking. She affirmed that attributing labels to food styles and portions is wholly closed-minded, propagates unnecessary conformity, and misrepresents the diversity in food systems and cultures.

Williams-Forson, chair and associate professor of American Studies at University of Maryland, College Park, is the associate editor of the journal Food and Foodways and previously authored books such as Building Houses out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food, and Power. Her upcoming book examines the implications of food policing and food shaming in African-American communities.

Approximately 100 students, faculty, and members of the greater Carlisle community attended Psyche Williams-Forson’s presentation on “Eating While Black: A Case Study on Food Shaming and Food Policing,” on Monday, Oct. 10, in the Allison Great Hall.  Williams-Forson’s appearance marked the third event in the Clarke Forum’s Food Series.