La complejidad biosocial de la alimentación humana

Abstract

Eating is a primary need. In order to survive, the human being must be nourished. In spite of this, foodstuffs are not only composed of nutrients, but also of meanings, in that they do not solely fulfil a physiological function, but also a social one. They are not exclusively directed through internal organic processes, but through representations that are external and which have been generated by the cultural environment. When introducing food in the mouth,simple as that action may seem, the individual activates a series of less simple processes of various types. Some are ecological, psychological, economic or cultural. They are all narrowly linked, and they constitute the conditioning elements of the human eating behaviour.