The Practice of Taste
The Aesthetics of Food in 19th- and 20th-CenturyCulinary Writings
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21724592Keywords:
Gustatory Aesthetics, Aesthetics of Taste, Practical Aesthetics, Aesthetic Education, SomaestheticsAbstract
This article explores the phenomenon of the practical aesthetics of taste. The author analyses three culinary works from the perspectives of pragmatic aesthetics (somaesthetics) and the aesthetics of education. The following works are reviewed: Grimod de La Reynière’s the Almanac des gourmands, The Spirit of Culinary Art by von Rumohr, and the Soviet recipe book The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food. The work explores the intersection of the aesthetic, ethical, and political dimensions of taste: from practices of improving the body through nutrition and cultivating attitudes toward food to the ideological normalisation of taste preferences. Furthermore, the article demonstrates how these works anticipated contemporary discussions about food.
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