Dennis the Menace and archetypal US food
One thing that hits us all when we meet other people is that suddenly our foodways don’t seem as normal as we thought. We look for measurements of normal (I am talking wildly here - it’s near the end of term and I’m too tired to be thinking - why do historians only sound boring when they talk wildly?). One of our measurements is the popular media.
I love this as a theory: I love all theories, especially when I’m overtired - theories are so much easier than proving them. I don’t intend to prove this one. What I intend to do is show you how a totally innocuous series of cartoons from 1951 can feed a very far from innocuous stereotype of US culture.
That stereotype is what we fall back on as ‘normal.’ When I travel in the US my brain takes refuge in the pop culture vision of US food from up to a generation ago. From there I can encounter the richness and diversity of US food culture and deep down somehow reassure myself that it’s perfectly safe.
There’s just one thing I forgot to tell you about this post. It’s #1 of 2. Today you just got the reason for it. Tomorrow you get a dissection of food as it appeared in 1951 in Dennis the menace by the inimitable Hank Ketcham. Be grateful I didn’t choose the food of Superman!
Dennis the Menace, US food, food history, food stereotypes, pop culture, foodways
June 21st, 2007 at 7:49 am
I’ve tagged you to write a post detailing the 5 reasons why you love blogging!
To see my five, follow this nice link… http://www.youtubedigger.com/5-reasons-why-i-love-blogging/
June 21st, 2007 at 8:33 am
Thank you :). I’ve now been tagged by 3 people and can’t do a thing about it til next week. I will do a splendid tag post when I have time, though - I promise.
November 30th, 2007 at 3:15 am
[...] give you the low-down on what food is in them. Some of it you know already, as one of the strips is Dennis the Menace (hence today’s picture). In the meantime, I’ll take you travelling somewhere [...]
December 15th, 2007 at 7:15 am
[...] the book. I was the right age to be there. This time (though I really don’t like to say it), I read it with the eye of a writer and of an historian. Unfortunately, this blog is about food history, so you’re going to have to pretend the [...]