Can “Percy Jackson” stand alongside “The Great Gatsby” on a bookshelf? Can Charli XCX and Mozart live harmoniously in the same playlist? If you’re a cultural omnivore, the answer is a resounding yes.
Cultural omnivores are people who can consume media and art from both elite and popular genres.
It’s rare to be a cultural omnivore. If you’re like me and most people, you tend to have a narrower set of tastes. In my snobbish case, I’m quick to admit that I love historical fiction but hate comic books. I love expressionism but I hate realism paintings. I love rap but hate country music.
Having defined tastes allows for comfortable cultural consumption, limiting media exploration. However, by adopting the ways of the cultural omnivore, you can gain access to a range of benefits that will help you excel in many facets of your life.
Cultural omnivorousness fosters stronger understanding of different perspectives, increasing our cultural awareness.
“It’s always important to understand cultures outside of your own,” said Karma Chávez, Mexican American and Latina/o Studies department chair. “It’s a good way to familiarize yourself with difference and step outside of your comfort zone.”
Increasing cultural awareness is vital in today’s interconnected world, surrounded by people with diverse cultural consumption.
“The more diverse our experiences across cultural phenomena, the more open we are to being receptive to and empathizing to those that are not ourselves,” humanities chair Frederick Luis Aldama said.
Additionally, there are neurobiological benefits to broadening your cultural consumption.
“The more we are exposed to different kinds of cultural phenomena, … the more active our brain is,” Aldama said. “As we get older, the kind of synaptic activities that are less used are pruned and basically disappear.”
This idea could be why being a cultural omnivore can boost creativity. According to the Johnson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, cultural omnivores are more likely to pursue creative positions and enter jobs that will be viewed as creative. At the same time, according to a World Economic Forum’s future survey, 73% of the companies surveyed believe creative thinking is becoming more important for workers.
Finally, cultural omnivorousness simply makes us better at understanding art. By diversifying our tastes, we can consume much more art than we’d otherwise let ourselves. It allows us to appreciate aesthetic value without being bogged down by any labels placed on it. Even if you think you wouldn’t enjoy superhero films, having open experiences with art you wouldn’t normally consume will help you gain a deeper understanding of your tastes.
So, how do you become a cultural omnivore? Well, it’s complicated — taste is largely a product of personality traits, socioeconomic factors and demographics, and cultural omnivorousness is more associated with high education and income levels.
“Unfortunately, there are often systems in place that want to divide and segregate and put up guard rails between different cultural objects,” Aldama said.
So, it would be ignorant for me to argue that you should simply start enjoying a Beethoven symphony tomorrow when you can’t entirely control your taste.
Instead, try being aware of your inclinations toward and against certain forms of art and make an active effort to slowly diversify your consumption. Attend events you normally wouldn’t that highlight different cultures or genres.
So, add a pinch of pop to your classical cake or a helping of Hemmingway to your sci-fi salad. By adopting the omnivore diet, you can start planting the seeds for a whole cultural experience and reap the benefits of cultural omnivorousness.
Kota is a computer science and business senior from Galveston, Texas.
