The Juxtaposition of Comiendo Bien and Nutrition The State of Healthy Eating for Latina Immigrants in San Francisco

• Published in: Food, culture, & society Vol. 18; no. 1; pp. 131 - 149
• Main Author: Martinez, Airin D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Routledge 01.03.2015
• Subjects: Conflict; Discourse; globalization; Health; Hispanic Americans; Immigrants; Latin American Cultural Groups; Latino immigrants; lay knowledge; negotiation; Nutrition; San Francisco, California; Satisfaction; situational analysis; nutrition; situational analysis; lay knowledge; Latino immigrants; globalization; negotiation
• ISSN: 1552-8014; 1751-7443; 1528-9796
• DOI: 10.2752/175174415X14101814953800

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.