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The Aesthetics of Food

The Aesthetics of Food

Kevin W. Sweeney

(2017)

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Abstract

The Aesthetics of Food sets out the continuing philosophical debate about the aesthetic nature of food. The debate begins with Plato’s claim that only objects of sight and hearing could be beautiful; consequently, food as something we smell and taste could not be beautiful. Plato’s sceptical position has been both supported and opposed in one form or another throughout the ages. This book demonstrates how the current debate has evolved and critically assesses that debate, showing how it has been influenced by the changing nature of critical theory and changes in art historical paradigms (Expressionism, Modernism, and Post-modernism), as well as by recent advances in neuroscience. It also traces changes in our understanding of the sensory experience of food and drink, from viewing taste as a simple single sense to current views on its complex multi-sensory nature. Particular attention is paid to recent philosophical discussion about wine: whether an interest in a wine reflects only a subjective or personal preference or whether one can make objective judgments about the quality and merit of a wine. Finally, the book explores how the debate has been informed by changes in the cooking, presenting, and consuming of food, for example by the appearance of the restaurant in the early nineteenth century as well as the rise of celebrity chefs.
Professor Sweeney’s book comprises an engaging march through the history of philosophy, showing how many eminent thinkers have reflected on the beauty of food. The historical analysis is bolstered by contemporary examples—including Ferran Adrià’s molecular gastronomy—and the writing is both lucid and accessible to non-specialists. This book is an exceptional accomplishment and highly recommended.
Fritz H. Allhoff, Professor of Philosophy, Western Michigan University
After a deeply insightful assessment of philosophical ideas on the aesthetic of food from Plato and Aristotle to Beardsley and Dewey (including a fascinating comparison of Kant and Brillat-Savarin), Sweeney brilliantly reframes the “is fine cuisine fine art?” debate by reflecting on 21st century revolutionary cuisine (Adrià, Achatz, Blumenthal, etc.) in the light of trends in contemporary art and aesthetics since Post-Modernism. Along the way he develops conceptual distinctions that advance the discussion of the aesthetics of food within philosophy, yet he does all this in an engaging style that should be accessible to both undergraduates and general readers.
Larry E. Shiner, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, History, Visual Arts, Villanova University
Kevin W. Sweeney is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tampa.
In this welcome addition to the growing philosophical scholarship on food and drink, Kevin Sweeney situates the subject historically and within a context of art theory that is often overlooked. His careful analysis of the aesthetic standing of taste and the artistic claims for cuisine displays a sophisticated acquaintance with gastronomic culture as well as analytical acumen. The book will be read with interest by student and scholar alike.
Carolyn Korsmeyer, Professor of Philosophy, University of Buffalo

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Cover Cover 1
Half Title i
Title Page iii
Copyright Page iv
Table of contents v
Chapter One The Aesthetics of Food: Cuisine and Taste 1
Ferran Adrià and Contemporary Cuisine 4
Theories of Taste 9
Taste in Asia 12
Notes 15
Chapter Two Taste in Antiquity: Plato’s Rejection of Food 19
From Wild Man to Civilized Being: The Epic of Gilgamesh 20
Food and the Evolution of Homo Sapiens 22
Plato’s Rejection of the Pleasures of Food 24
Plato’s Denial That Cuisine Has an Art or Craft 26
Heldke’s Critique of Plato’s Rejection of Cuisine in Gorgias 26
Plato’s Account of Taste 28
Plato’s Theory of Taste and the Greeks’ Love of Food 31
Summary 34
Notes 35
Chapter Three Aristotelian and Roman Views on Taste 39
Aristotle on Gluttony 40
Aristotle’s Theory of Taste 42
Taste and Touch 44
Freeland’s Critique of Aristotle’s Theory of Touch 46
Aristotle’s Common Sense 47
Can Food Be Beautiful? 48
Summary of Aristotle’s Theory of Taste 51
Gustatory Experience in the Roman Empire 53
Christianity Struggles with Food and Wine 60
Notes 64
Chapter Four Medieval and Renaissance Views on Food 71
Food in the Monastic Refectory and the Feudal Hall 72
Renaissance Gastronomy in Italy 74
Seventeenth-Century French Cuisine 78
Service à la française 80
The Distillation of Alcohol 82
Descartes, Alcohol, and Animal Spirits 83
Notes 85
Chapter Five Critical Taste in the Enlightenment 89
Addison on Fine Taste 90
Shaftesbury and Hutcheson 93
Du Bos and Voltaire 98
Hume’s Theory of Taste and Gustatory Experience 100
Delicacy of Taste and the “Finer Emotions” 106
Reid on Taste 108
Conclusion 110
Notes 111
Chapter Six Kant and Brillat-Savarin on Taste 117
Kant on Taste 117
Taste of Sense and Taste of Reflection 119
Disinterestedness and Having a Gustatory Appetite 121
Kant on Common Sense 125
Gastronomy and Brillat-Savarin 126
Brillat-Savarin and Gourmandism 130
Brillat-Savarin’s Physiology of Taste 131
Taste and the Gastronomic Revolution 133
Carême and the Celebrity Chef 135
Expressionism and Food 136
Lewis Carroll on Food 137
Notes 139
Chapter Seven Creating and Tasting: Can Fine Food Be Fine Art? 145
Clement Greenberg’s Modernism 146
Clive Bell and “Significant Form” 147
Prall and Beardsley on Whether Tastes and Smells Can Have Structures 148
Dewey on Having an Experience with Food 150
Modernism and Cuisine 152
Telfer and Korsmeyer on the Pleasures of Taste 154
The Art World and Cuisine 157
Kuehn and Monroe: Can Cuisine Be Fine Art? 158
Postmodernism and the Multisensitivity of Taste 159
Notes 163
Chapter Eight Tasting Wine 167
Scruton on Taste and Smell 168
Hume’s Wine-Tasting Example Reconsidered 171
Analytic Realism 172
Analytic Interpretivism 175
The Synthetic Character of Wine Tasting 178
Notes 180
Chapter Nine The Philosophical Debate about the Aesthetics of Food 183
Bibliography 189
Index 199