Taste as a social sense: rethinking taste as a cultural activity

Flavour

Susanne Højlund¹ 

[1] Department of Anthropology, Aarhus University, Moesgaard Alle 2, Højbjerg, DK-8270 Aarhus, Denmark

关键词: Context;    Sharing;    Practice;    Culture;    Tasting;    Taste;   

Others  :  1139569
DOI  :  10.1186/2044-7248-4-6

 received in 2014-12-02, accepted in 2014-12-02,  发布年份 2015

【 摘 要 】

This article outlines what it means to see taste as a social sense, that means as an activity related to socio-cultural context, rather than as an individual matter of internal reflection. Though culture in the science of taste is recognized as an influential parameter, it is often mentioned as the black box, leaving it open to determine exactly how culture impacts taste, and vice versa, and often representing the taster as a passive recipient of multiple factors related to the local cuisine and culinary traditions. By moving the attention from taste as a physiological stimulus–response of individuals to tasting as a shared cultural activity, it is possible to recognize the taster as a reflexive actor that communicates, performs, manipulates, senses, changes and embodies taste—rather than passively perceives a certain experience of food. The paper unfolds this anthropological approach to taste and outlines some of its methodological implications: to map different strategies of sharing the experience of eating, and to pay attention to the context of these tasting practices. It is proposed that different taste activities can be analysed through the same theoretical lens, namely as sharing practices that generates and maintains a cultural understanding of the meaning of taste.

【 授权许可】

   
2015 Højlund; licensee BioMed Central.

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