The alimentary imaginary in German, Spanish and French: how meat is experienced

Abstract

Imaginaries are built on social representations as well as on linguistic structures. The analysis of lexical representations of German, Spanish and French about alimentation, especially meat, may allow a better insight in the imaginary linked with the latter. The analysis, although, shows that, in Spanish, meat stands symbolically for strength and that this strength has to be evacuated from the meat in German. In French, meanwhile, the division between feminine and masculine principles situates foremost the alimentation in culture and rather far from nature.