The Food “Rich” and “Poor”: Food Markers of Sociocultural Hierarchies

Abstract

The article makes an analysis of traditional notions of the “rich” and “poor” food, which are directly related to sociocultural hierarchies. In folk vocabularies describing celebratory feasts (“rich”, “lavish”, “big” table), there is reflected an understanding of “abundance” as “Divine grace”. An important factor playing the role of a sociocultural regulator was hunger, which substantially altered the content of the notions of “rich” and “poor” and acted as a catalyst for the processes of social stratifi cation, disintegration of the large patriarchal family, and outflow of the rural population to other regions.