Open Access

Merle Müller-Hansen, Kiran Addu, Markus Keck

• In this article, we take southern metropolises of India and Mexico as examples to examine the dynamics of contemporary urban food environments and associated embodied food practices in low- and middle-income countries. In our intersectional case study analyses, we use generational difference as the main axis of inequality to structure our argument of changing food consumption patterns. As our findings illustrate, older generations tend to express their social status in terms of wealth and health by way of physical chubbiness. We provide the context for this ‘wealthy-healthy-chubby’ nexus by referring to colonial experiences and persisting social inequalities. In contrast, young people increasingly consume ‘outside foods’ through digital platforms and adhere to the slimmer body shapes that are amplified through digital media. We interpret this as an expression of their aspiration to lead a consumer lifestyle that suggests high social status and signifies their participation in a globalIn this article, we take southern metropolises of India and Mexico as examples to examine the dynamics of contemporary urban food environments and associated embodied food practices in low- and middle-income countries. In our intersectional case study analyses, we use generational difference as the main axis of inequality to structure our argument of changing food consumption patterns. As our findings illustrate, older generations tend to express their social status in terms of wealth and health by way of physical chubbiness. We provide the context for this ‘wealthy-healthy-chubby’ nexus by referring to colonial experiences and persisting social inequalities. In contrast, young people increasingly consume ‘outside foods’ through digital platforms and adhere to the slimmer body shapes that are amplified through digital media. We interpret this as an expression of their aspiration to lead a consumer lifestyle that suggests high social status and signifies their participation in a global shift towards digitally mediated cosmopolitan food consumption. We conceive of the ‘wealthy-healthy-chubby’ nexus and of ‘outside foods’ as two contradicting teleoaffective formations that lead to intergenerational friction over dietary and bodily ideals. At the same time, we understand the common element in both teleoaffective formations as an evolving teleoaffective regime of aspirational eating.…