Excess discourses and information on food results in commensals not knowing what to eat. The Durkheim concept led the French sociologist Claude Fischler to create the neologism gastro-anomy to refer to the paradox that we face today regarding food: we have never known so much about the effects of food on the body and, curiously, we have never had so many food-related health problems. The present essay is about this gastro-anomy phenomenon. How does anomy present itself in today's society with respect to food? How do dieticians understand this issue? Since art synthesizes the intrinsic properties of a society, these reflections were guided by art. We started off by analyzing two works from very different time periods: the Middle Ages and today. The Arnolfini couple represented by Jan van Eyck is a work from the 15th century, time when the medical and religious discourse mostly determined people's food choices. On the other hand, Botero's parody elicits plump bodies in reference to excess: the excess information available to commensals nowadays.
Food; Art; Feeding behavior
