Working the rational and the mystical into “superfoods”: a Benjaminian approach

ABSTRACT

In this paper, I apply Walter Benjamin’s concepts “aura” and “wish-image” to explain the cultural making of avocados into a “superfood commodity” in southern Turkey’s peasant communities. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, I employ a cultural-historical analysis to point out how, quickly after being introduced, the tree’s leaves were used in folk medicine. As folk medicine, avocado leaf gained cultural importance due to its “aura.” Later it was the dying charm of the leaf that breathed new life into the fruit to make it a “superfood,” that is, a capitalist “wish-image” in Benjamin’s thinking. This case study offers new theoretical insights into the production of symbolic-value from the bottom-up in the context of contemporary global capitalism while also suggesting new directions for research on symbolic-value resulting from the interplay between food and memory.

KEYWORDS:

• Superfoods
• folk medicine
• aura
• wish-images
• sign-value
• Walter Benjamin

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Alan Klein and Nil Alt for their valuable comments on early drafts of this work. The author would also like to thank the anonymous referees for their constructive feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

This research study was reviewed and approved by The Northeastern University Institutional Review Board (IRB) on August 26, 2019. (NU IRB #: 19-08-18)

Notes

1. Even in artistic production, which is considered one of the main fields of “symbolic production”, Bourdieu (1985) identifies that the producer still “has to define himself in relation to the public meaning of his work” (p. 13) – suggesting the continuing relevance of the moment of consumption for affirmation of symbolic value.

2. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service estimates that from 2000 to 2021, avocado consumption per person has tripled in the US. (USDA Economic Research Service 2022, accessed June 6, 2022).

3. At the time of the writing of this article, it is stated on the website of Avocados From Mexico, n.d. (a marketing organization formed in 2013, involving avocado farmers in Mexico, and importers and distributors in the US) that “the avocado was extremely important among the indigenous people of ancient Mesoamerica, as the fruit provided sustenance and possessed mythological powers. For instance, the Aztecs believed the fruit provided strength to whomever consumed it, and in ancient Maya, the fourteenth month of their calendar (K’ank’in) is represented by the glyph for the avocado” (Avocados From Mexico, accessed June 6, 2022). The same website, under a different section, titled “Nutrition”, also features detailed information on the abundance of “good nutrients” in avocados expressed at the level of micro-nutrients (vitamins, minerals) and its desirable effects on various biomarkers for chronic diseases through consumption (e.g., effects on various types of cholesterol) – perfectly exemplifying the use of a reductionist, “nutritionism” discourse (Scrinis 2008, 2013).

4. A total of 132 articles mentioning avocados that appeared in Cumhuriyet newspaper between January 1, 1930 and January 31, 2020 were analyzed.

5. The Ministry of Agriculture of Turkey also imported avocado varieties and conducted research on adapting avocado trees to the region (especially after 1970), which was important for farmers to be able to plant avocado orchards after the 2000s. However, since that state initiative is not relevant for the initial spread of avocado trees as backyard trees in peasant communities (as opposed to commercial orchards), it is left out of the discussion in this article.

6. Names of all interviewees have been changed to pseudonyms.

7. All interviews were conducted in Turkish. All translations into English are by the author.

8. One may suggest that all commodities in capitalism show similar characteristics at varying levels. However, wish-images must be taken as ideal-types. The function of superfood avocado wish-image is not only to offer a new capitalist promise, but also to destroy the authority of immediately preceding forms – a quality that Benjamin associated with wish-images.

9. The original Turkish motto is: “Üretirsen gelirin, tüketirsen sağlığın artar!”.

Additional information

Funding

This article uses data from the author’s dissertation research. The author’s dissertation research was supported in part by the College of Social Sciences and Humanities of Northeastern University.

Notes on contributors

Baran Karsak

Baran Karsak received his PhD degree in Sociology from Northeastern University in 2021 with a dissertation titled Peasant Entrepreneurs in the Global Cultural Economy of Superfoods: The Case of Turkish Avocado Growers. He is currently a Lecturer in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities at Koç University, Istanbul.