Food experience presentation and discursive identity construction: Taking Openrice.com as an example

Audience's perceptions are largely influenced by information we receive from specialized websites and social networking sites in terms of professional blogs or peer's posts. What's more, the content they post and the way they share is a reflection of users' perception towards self and life. From the perspective of identity theory, how people spending time and money, opinions and views people have for themselves and others as well as interests attached to immediate surroundings all contribute to identity construction (Gonzalez and Bello, 2002). When it comes to the information on food, restaurant recommendation and food reviews are important not only because it helps making choices of where and what to eat, but reflects the identity of both the writers and readers. This is potentially interesting for you to develop into a project. From the approach of critical discourse analysis, Fairclough mapped out the key dimensions of critical discourse analysis and built linkage among style, discourse and genres (Fairclough, 2000). Identities are constructed through expression of behaviors or taste, patterns of leisure time activities, attitude to key social issues (Machin & Van Leeuwen, 2005). The speech given by a specific person can be understood as contribution to a related functional process, how it represents the social world and process, and how it projects a particular identity tied to specific identity. It is the similar case for the experience presentation and identity construction on Openrice a wellknown food recommendation and review website. On one hand, the authors construct their own food experiences into different styles through the integrated application of text and photos; on the other hand, the readers reflect their interpretation on such presentation and assist the construction of food experience through comments posted following the article. Briefly, the study is going to learn 1) the presentation of food-related experience; 2) discourse techniques applied to complete the presentation on the site; 3) whether and how identities (self and group, personal and social, etc.) are formed and changed (strengthened or weakened) in the process. Meaning embedded in the discourse related to food and identity will be revealed. Specifically, with the application of discourse analysis of food review from users and editors and interviews, this research is going to explore: what types of food experiences are expressed in the review articles (editor's review and latest users' review) on Openrice' How are identities constructed during the presentation' What is the difference between editors' review and audience's review on the same restaurants in terms of discourse strategies' It will also discuss media's participatory role in symbolic cultural production, reproduction and consumption with the assistance of audience themselves.