Presentation for the Kinesiology Research Group at CSU East Bay

1. „TAILGATE WARRIORS‟:
Exploring Constructions of
Masculinity, Food, and
Football
Maria J. Veri, Ph.D.
San Francisco State University
Rita Liberti, Ph.D.
Cal State East Bay

2. Taking Food Seriously
• What drew us into „Tailgate Warriors‟?
• What can studying mediated representations of
men and cooking tell us about constructions of
masculinity?
• Does „Tailgate Warriors’ maintain,
reinforce, or destabilize the
traditional gender binary?

3. Themes
• “Battle on the Blacktop”
• “Nothing Says Love Like Bacon”
• “We don’t just do brats and burgers, we can
bring it”
• “that fennel sausage says Chicago to me”

4. Competitive Spectacle:
“Battle on the Blacktop”
“These competitive contests place cooking firmly in the public
sphere and promote a version of masculinity tied to
hierarchy, success, power, speed, and stamina”
(Swenson, 2009, p.49)

5. Competitive Spectacle:
“Battle on the Blacktop”
Fieri: “Each team jumps into action with a confident game plan”
Fieri: “I see some audibles, I see some people changing
positions. I’ve got running backs catching passes”
Andy (GB): “You‟ve got to change it as it goes, let the play
develop and take the open lane.”
Fieri: “But just as confidence is peaking Flaherty fumbles one of
their pork and beef sliders”
Tanya (SEA): “We make a really great team and we have each
other’s back”

6. MEAT:
“Nothing Says Love Like Bacon”
- “Bacon Dude”
• Food – culturally
typed by gender?

7. MEAT: “Nothing Says Love Like Bacon”
• “She‟s [the pig] been
going since 8:30 last
night. We slept in the
parking lot to keep an
eye on her.”‟
- Oakland Coliseum tailgate
participant
• “Without the elk the entry
is shot.”
– Guy Fieri (Tailgate Warriors)

8. MEAT: “Nothing Says Love Like Bacon”
Meat and the construction of
difference
“Chris is spending too much
valuable time on the side dish”
- Guy Fieri (Tailgate Warriors)
“I don‟t know exactly how to eat
this”
- „Dr. BBQ‟ (Tailgate Warriors) on
Green Bay‟s appetizer - the
“Lambeau Leap” Tostadas

9. Complexity: “We don’t just do brats and
burgers, we can bring it”
• Special tools and meals make cooking an
acceptable masculine activity (Adler, 1981;
Swenson, 2009)
“And our entrée is an elk tenderloin with fresh goat
cheese, Door County cherry chutney and Wisconsin
cured Pancetta”
- GB team member,
describing entrée to
TW judges

10. Complexity: “We don’t just do brats and
burgers, we can bring it”
• Cooking equipment / tools
Men “see in the technology of cookery
a system which proclaims their
interests to include much more than
the edible product” (Adler, 1981, p.48)

11. Food, Football, and Place
• “That fennel sausage says
Chicago to me.” – Dr. BBQ
• If you’re a San Francisco 49er you
know the refined ways of life. I’ve
been to a bunch of 49er games
[tailgating] and I’ve seen people
bustin’ out sushi and
chardonnay.”

13. Wilma Rudolph as text…how has she
been represented and remembered.
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1960 Homecoming Parade
In relation to other athletes
Autobiography
Made-for-TV movie
Children’s books
Stamp
Statue
Street signs