Chemotherapy and the Flavor of Food
How do cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy make food choices ? How do family, friends, and hospital staff deal with the eating difficulties faced by many cancer patients ? How does caregiver intervention affect patient food choices ? This article addresses these questions by presenting the results of an anthropological research project carried out in Quebec in 2012-2013 involving 21 female patients being treated for gynecological cancer (ovarian, peritoneum or endometrial cancer) and their ten closest relatives. The goal of the project was to understand not only the physiological symptoms and consequences of eating difficulties, but also the social and cultural contexts of such difficulties. First, the article describes some of the side effects of chemotherapy (in particular loss of appetite, modified sense of taste and smell, and intense hunger pangs) and how they impact hunger sensation and food consumption. Second, it looks at the influence that medical personnel (nurses, dieticians, and pharmacologists), family, and friends have on the food choices patients make and on patients’ emotional experience. Project findings point to potential obstacles in complying with a prescribed diet. Furthermore, they allow us to better understand the interaction between patients and caregivers about food choices, and how such interaction varies according to delegated responsibility, open dialogue, gifts, and controlled choice. Finally, taking these findings into account, we ask what « eating » during chemotherapy means, whether it is only a biological necessity, or if it could be a pleasurable experience.