Description
A thoughtful consideration of taste as a sense and an idea and of how we might jointly develop both.
When we eat, we eat the world: taking something from outside and making it part of us. But what does it taste of? And can we develop our taste? In Taste, Sarah Worth argues that taste is a sense that needs educating, for the real pleasures of eating only come with an understanding of what one really likes. From taste as an abstract concept to real examples of food, she explores how we can learn about and develop our sense of taste through themes ranging from pleasure, authenticity, and food fraud, to visual images, recipes, and food writing. Sarah E. Worth is professor of philosophy at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. She is the author of In Defense of Reading.
"One of the most unusual books and perhaps one of the most relevant to CHC that I have reviewed here. Exploring our relationship to food and taste from a philosophical perspective, author Worth interweaves the history of philosophical concepts and ethics with the history of food, industrialization and recipe development (to name just a few). . . . If you enjoy philosophy and food, you will love this book. If you don’t, you will probably still enjoy it, thanks to Worth’s eloquent writing style and her unique ability to keep you engaged with every word. A must-read."
“This book takes you on a rich and unexpected journey through the sense of taste. Rather than focusing on taste as the sensation we feel in our mouth, this book is instead a generous, detailed account of our tastes and preferences as we understand them, flavored through the author's prose.”
“In this engaging book, Worth presents a set of reflections on food, cooking, and taste that will interest both philosophers and general readers. Her pleasant, clear style introduces philosophical theories and the history of cooking with equal ease, covering the nature of recipes, questions of authenticity and food preparation, taste pleasures, and the complexities of sense experience—all inviting rumination on the familiar saying, ‘We are what we eat.’”
“Western philosophy has shown remarkably little interest in the ‘lower’ sense of taste, despite its importance in everyday life. Taste seeks to remedy that mistake: it examines present ‘moments’ in our relationships to food by contextualizing them within the history of philosophy. Taste invites us to recognize how profound and important are the matters of taste and tasting, in all their senses.”
"If you enjoy philosophy and food, you will love this book. If you don't, you will probably still enjoy it, thanks to Worth's eloquent writing style and her unique ability to keep you engaged with every word. A must-read."
