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Tasting as a social practice: a methodological experiment in making taste public

2020; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 23; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/14649365.2020.1809013

1470-1197

Peter Jackson, David M. Evans, Mónica Trüninger, João Afonso Baptista, Nádia Carvalho Nunes,

Geographies of human-animal interactions

Based on fieldwork in the UK and Portugal, this paper considers the relationships between cultural analyses of taste and the embodied activity of tasting. As part of a wider project on the multiple ontologies of 'freshness', the paper conceptualises taste as an emergent effect of tasting practices. Drawing on evidence from a series of 'tasting events' (where research participants were recorded shopping, cooking and eating a meal with friends and family), the paper explores the multiple dimensions of taste concluding that even the most personal and sensory aspects of tasting food involve a social dimension which we interpret through the lens of practice theory. The paper identifies three specific dimensions of tasting as a social practice involving food's material and visceral qualities; the links between embodiment and emotion; and the contextual significance of family and social relations. Our findings contribute to recent debates about 'making taste public', even in the apparently private context of household consumption.