Evolution of food consumption patterns in upper middle-class Dhaka and how it shaped individuals and their relations to others

Abstract

Food is an integral part of human life. What once was a mere form of sustenance, now embodies cultural values, markers of class and status, identity, and the imprint of change and development. As the economy of Bangladesh thrived and the nation became largely industrialized with factories and office buildings popping up like mushrooms wherever there was a space to spare; a loss of open recreational spaces took place alongside. Spaces that once used to be a park or a playground have now been replaced by coffee shops or five-star restaurants, making ‘pet-puja’ a prime form of entertainment for the millennials and so forth. The phrase ‘pet-puja´ roughly translates to worshipping the stomach. This phrase is a clear demonstration of our obsession with feasting as a nation. However, over generations our ideas surrounding food consumption have taken many different forms. This thesis will primarily look into what these different forms of food obsessions are and exhibit how they came to be. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how consumption practices shape our lives and our relations with others in terms of hierarchy of age, gender, social position and class. This thesis will be an ethnographic account of what shifts took place and how they led to the changes that have taken place over time. This research will be conducted through focused group discussions and key person interviews to get an image of the differences that exist, which shall be further analyzed to see how they came to be. By the end of this research, I hope to highlight how various forms of consumption came to be and how it shapes our lives as individuals and as members of a community in this thesis. It is important to study this topic to understand food beyond culture and tradition and look at how it contributes to social construction.