The Anthropology of Taste in Food
Studying Culinary Technology
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17398/3020-3635.4.27Keywords:
Taste, Technology, Cooking, Gastronomy, MultisensorialityAbstract
This essay develops the argument that it is necessary for socio-cultural anthropology to study the relationships among technology, taste, cooking and gastronomy. Although anthropology has played an important part analyzing social and economic factors that shape alimentary practices, it has not paid enough attention to the senses and the meanings of taste, nor to culinary technologies. Since these are socio-cultural meanings, this paper outlines the different ways in which sign-values are inscribed in the different technologies involved in the production of food ingredients, their transformation into meals in kitchens, their social consumption at the table, and food waste management. Often, the technologies involved go unnoticed, both by the people sharing a meal and for the anthropologists observing or participating with them. This paper argues for the need to pay greater attention to technologies, their signifying values and practices, and their relationship with culinary and gastronomic multisensoriality.
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