Why does what we eat matter to the anthropologist?
A translation of an introductory piece on the anthropology of food, and why the table makes a good entry point for studying a society.
Series
Reading Memory
5 pieces in this series
Ramadan in the city: a rite in transition
The cannon became a phone notification, and the shared iftar became a reservation. What is left of the rite?
The café: a new majlis with old rules?
Part of social life has moved into cafés. Did the rules of the majlis move with it?
The AlUla inscriptions: a human archive in the rock of the Hijaz
The rocks of AlUla hold a history alive with feeling, names and fear — human texts that outlast time and tell what the official archive left out.
Social change in Saudi cities: field notes
Between 2015 and 2025 Saudi cities went through rapid social change that deserves careful anthropological observation — neither blind celebration nor despairing critique.
Other series
Don't miss anything
Subscribe to the Anthro weekly: one article, one story, one anthropological question each week.