This document serves as an exploration of food preferences and behaviors and how these relate to an individual's identity. Specifically, I'm interested in examining why we eat what we do. For example, do I eat dessert after every meal because I think it's good, because I'm a woman, or simply because I have the financial means? It's possible that all of these factors are at play when it comes to my food preferences. Individual identity and socially constructed identities such as gender and social class are all closely linked to the food we eat and how we obtain it. In this article I will use the works of many theorists as well as two films A Matter of Taste and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover to argue that we eat what we eat because we perceive the food we consume as a reflection of who we are and of where we are located in the social hierarchy of our society. It is important to note that as members of society our tastes, or consumer preferences, are mostly conditioned by social factors. Our likes and dislikes are largely learned by observing and reproducing the food preferences and consumption behaviors of those around us, such as our peers, members of a shared culture, or social class. The French epicurean Brillat-Savarin theorizes that we are what we eat, but equally we are also what we do not eat (Belasco 1). Our identity is reflected in all the choices we make in life, but above all in what we choose to consume or not. Depending on the group we identify with (man or woman, rich, worker or poor) we are socially conditioned to have different tastes. Although the topic of food has recently received a lot of attention in academia, ...... middle of paper ... in films consumers are members of the upper class who deserve to eat the best, so it must be prepared by the best , which are men. This notion that male cooking is an art form is greatly exemplified in the opening kitchen scenes of A Matter of Taste and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. For example, in the scene where the viewer is first introduced to the kitchen in A Matter of Taste, there are men cutting different meats and sharpening knives, it has a very masculine feel. There is a focus on the men's hands as they carve, slice and dice and everything is done with this intensity and focus on precision. Also, while the food is being prepared, there is classical music playing in the background, which is a play on art and class. Classical music is often associated with inspiration and concentration, but also with high class. These images portray perfectly