Understanding Food, Memory, and Generational Trauma through Psychological Lens

Did you know that our eating habits are inherently tied to the trauma we may have inherited from our ancestors? Yes! Our current relationship with food can be traced back to the diverse struggles faced by our previous generations and the distressing challenges they might have endured across their lives. While trauma is usually retained after specifically distressing events that we struggle to cope with, generational trauma is passed down to us through our immediate family or the previous generations. This inherited trauma can impact our body image, diets, culinary habits and can also increase susceptibility to food disorders.

Before unraveling the association between inherited trauma and food habits, let’s first understand what constitutes as generational trauma.

What is Generational Trauma?

Generational trauma refers to the inheritance of the emotions and mental attitudes occurring from distressing experiences from one generation to another. This particular branch of trauma can involve adverse childhood experiences, staying in distressing situations or environments, witnessing acts of violence, trauma or abuse. Also known as intergenerational trauma, it can emerge as intense feelings of fear, anxiety, anger, depression, hyper-vigilance, insomnia, panic attacks, substance abuse and other symptoms that are challenging to cope with.

The transmission of trauma can be due to genetic factors, cultural factors or from direct exposure to grave situations like war, violence, natural disasters, oppression, racism, sexism, suicide, etc. Intergenerational trauma can have a collective impact on families and communities of the future generations.

How do our Culinary Habits reflect inherited trauma?

Picture this: as a child you would have ate whenever you wanted to and stopped eating when you felt full. But somewhere over the years, you would have been told by a parent or family member to ration or restrict your food intake, for various reasons like dieting, discipline, poverty or to have a healthy body.

You might also have conditioned yourself or learned to modify your eating habits after observing a family member’s relationship with food. For a lot of people, food can serve as medium for long lost memories, self-identity and even mental fortitude after stressful circumstances.

Cocoon of Comfort

We often hear the term ‘comfort food’ being used by people. Eating comfort food can be an attempt at feeling a sense of control after enduring stressful or violent situations. Those comfort foods might be associated with a memory that evokes a sense of harmony or comfort. The sense of warmth induced by comfort food can have a restorative effect on some individuals but food alone cannot heal our emotional wounds. When resorting to comfort food becomes your main coping mechanism after distress or pain, it can lead to an addictive and problematic relationship with food.

Read More: The Psychology Behind Comfort Food

Conundrum of Control

On the other side, some people would resort to controlling their food intake as a coping mechanism. This often manifests as obsessing over calories intake, stringent dieting, excessive fasting and having an overwhelming urge to have total control over food habits. While being active and staying healthy are important, trying to adhere strictly to diets as a way of coping with a sense of helplessness, stemming from trauma can often be counterproductive to our well-being.

Eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia, etc often surface when a person is struggling with a lack of agency or control over their life. Choosing to eat specific foods or following chaotic diets can also be a way of exercising control over one’s life.

Depths of Dissociation

Abnormal or fluctuating eating patterns can be a indicator of dissociation or detachment. Binge eating can be a temporary escape from reality and is harmful over a long-term. According to a research study, people with eating disorders exhibit elevated dissociation, decreased tolerance to distress and lower emotional clarity and awareness. 

Survival mode

People who have endured painful or stressful situations or are currently in distressing environments are usually in a mode of survival. As a consequence of this, their eating habits can fluctuate between eating mindlessly, stress eating and not eating sufficiently.

When an individual’s primary coping mechanism when faced with adversity or stress, becomes stress eating, it can only provide temporary comfort or relief from their situation. On the other hand, eating mindlessly or binge-eating can indicate a perceived lack of control and can also occur when a person is overwhelmed or stressed to the point of eating without their own awareness. 

Another way in which intergenerational trauma can affect our food habits is how we behave after enduring trauma associated with a scarcity of food due to life circumstances. For example, a person who has lived through abuse or war or famine might hoard food items to the point of having excess and they might also consume a lot of food driven by a fear of not having enough or not having access to it. 

Fresh and healthy food is limited to people experiencing social or economic difficulties which makes them reliant on cheap and processed foods. Over a period of time, eating such food can cause health issues and continue the cycle of generational trauma.

How to break the harmful cycle of generational trauma?

We are used to eating with family members, peers and friends so nutritional awareness is necessary in settings such as home, school, workplaces and the community. This can support caregivers in making informed decisions about the quantity and quality of food, the time at which they eat and various other factors that influence the culinary practices of the future generations across their developmental stages. To increase your awareness of your relationship with food, ask yourself the following questions:

• What makes you enjoy food and what are the emotions or memories you associate with particular food items?

• Which emotions are abated when you eat food and what are the emotions you felt before having that food?

• Do you experience emotions like guilt and shame when you eat certain foods?

• Do you feel like you are not allowed to eat or enjoy certain foods and if so, what are the reasons behind that?

It is crucial to be aware of how we relate food with worthiness, body image, self-esteem, and emotions. While experiencing the impact of inter generational trauma, the relationship between our mind, body and food tends to become heavily impaired. The symptoms might vary between people, but the effects of generational trauma can be devastating for many and can transmit throughout cultures and communities.

Instead of using food as a coping mechanism, when we encourage ourselves and others to view food as a source of nourishment and practice mindful eating, we can cultivate a healthier relationship with food.

As a family or community, we can aim at challenging the social stigmas, related with body weight, body image, cultural norms, religious traditions and culinary practices to eradicate shame and guilt that are associated with food. Reconnecting with the foods that were enjoyed by our previous generations and using older recipes can ensure that the future generation can have their roots intact, while paving a way for their descendants.

Acknowledging the fact that our relationship with food can also be a portrayal of our emotions can begin our journey towards healing generational trauma. Addressing shared food habits and the emotional links we have with food during therapy sessions can help us to break the cyclical patterns of inherited trauma. Along with developing healthier eating habits we can also reflect on the ways in which our emotional pain can lead us to particular coping mechanisms.

Conclusion

To conclude, intergenerational trauma can have an adverse effect and shape the way we and the future generations relate or interact with food. Understanding the identity struggles, the aftereffects of survival, inherited emotions or attachment to food, cultural or traditional influences that a family or community can have on the current and future generations can support us when we want to break harmful and inherited patterns of behavior. When we break the perpetual cycle between inherited trauma and our culinary habits, we will be able to enjoy food as a source of nourishment, union, a celebration of our origins, and a source of empowerment between different generations, families and communities.

FAQs

What is Generational trauma?

Generational trauma occurs when the effects of traumatic experiences or situations such as war, genocide, slavery, forced migration, abuse, violence or systemic oppression are not fully processed or resolved by the affected generation, and are inherited by their descendants.

How does food and Generational trauma relate with each other?

Food and generational trauma are closely connected as food can be a source of survival, memory, identity, and healing for people. When trauma is experienced by a generation in the form of war, famine, colonization, displacement, or other challenges, it can shape how the following generations relate to food.

How to know if my food habits reflect inherited Trauma?

By reflecting about how food can trigger strong emotional responses which could be due to underlying trauma. You can observe how your family regards food and the rules and habits formed due to events or situations such as migration, war, famine, etc. Overvaluing food abundance and fear of scarcity are also indicators of generational trauma. Understanding how your body responds to food is another way to know if trauma affects your food habits.