Food as faith: suffering, salvation and the Paleo diet in Australia

Dietary regimes are frequently likened to religious movements on account of the fervor of advocates’ adherence, and their enthusiastic proselytizing. Yet, beyond this somewhat pejorative use of the metaphor, analysis of the quasi-religious nature of diets can provide a valuable window into the subjective experiences of individuals undertaking stringent dietary regimes. Among Australian Paleo dieters, the increase in chronic illness and obesity prevalence is perceived as indicative of societal disorder, with the breakdown of the body reflecting broader economic, political and social malaise. The Paleo diet’s embedded moralism provides an explanatory apparatus that makes sense of the world through notions of good and evil, in this way satisfying dieters’ desires for cosmological meaning within their experiences of suffering. This moral symbolism filters into constructions of food as either pure or polluting, with “clean” eating and Paleo lifestyle transformations serving as quotidian expressions of agency, and a means of resistance to societal ills. The Paleo diet consequently exemplifies how the functions of traditional religion can be fulfilled by dietary practices within secular communities.