Taste: Making Sense of Food

TY - JOUR

T1 - Taste

T2 - Making Sense of Food

AU - Qvortrup, Lars

AU - Wistoft, Karen

PY - 2022/11

Y1 - 2022/11

N2 - This article presents four basic points. The first point is that food cannot be studied without integrating taste into the equation. Just as music is more than sounds, food is more than its physical or chemical ingredients. The second point is that in order to understand taste, it must be observed from different perspectives, and in this connection, three taste systems can be identified. Taste is indeed a physiological phenomenon, but it is also a mental and a social phenomenon. It is a matter of memories, experiences, and feelings, and it is something that we communicate about. Adding to the physiological taste system, we can identify a mental and a social taste system. These two systems can be observed through the lenses of taste psychology and taste sociology. The third point is that taste is both a precondition and an outcome; we profit from our taste abilities, but the outcome is taste experiences. Taste is both medium and form. This implies that taste is a creative ability. We appreciate what we taste, but through taste as a medium, we also imagine new taste potentials. The fourth point is that taste can be divided into a number of taste dimensions. Based on empirical studies, we have identified seven dimensions: (1) taste as sensory perceptions, (2) taste as deliciousness, (3) taste as a question of health, (4) taste as a moral phenomenon, (5) taste as a question of love, (6) taste as a religious phenomenon, and (7) taste as a question of trendiness.

AB - This article presents four basic points. The first point is that food cannot be studied without integrating taste into the equation. Just as music is more than sounds, food is more than its physical or chemical ingredients. The second point is that in order to understand taste, it must be observed from different perspectives, and in this connection, three taste systems can be identified. Taste is indeed a physiological phenomenon, but it is also a mental and a social phenomenon. It is a matter of memories, experiences, and feelings, and it is something that we communicate about. Adding to the physiological taste system, we can identify a mental and a social taste system. These two systems can be observed through the lenses of taste psychology and taste sociology. The third point is that taste is both a precondition and an outcome; we profit from our taste abilities, but the outcome is taste experiences. Taste is both medium and form. This implies that taste is a creative ability. We appreciate what we taste, but through taste as a medium, we also imagine new taste potentials. The fourth point is that taste can be divided into a number of taste dimensions. Based on empirical studies, we have identified seven dimensions: (1) taste as sensory perceptions, (2) taste as deliciousness, (3) taste as a question of health, (4) taste as a moral phenomenon, (5) taste as a question of love, (6) taste as a religious phenomenon, and (7) taste as a question of trendiness.

KW - Food

KW - Sense making

KW - Taste

KW - Taste dimensions

KW - Taste systematic

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85147359464&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.18848/2160-1933/CGP/v12i02/1-7

DO - 10.18848/2160-1933/CGP/v12i02/1-7

M3 - Tidsskriftartikel

VL - 12

SP - 1

EP - 7

JO - Food Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal

JF - Food Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal

IS - 2

ER -