MAR 6

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14. MAR 6

Assigned Work

  • Gordon Shepherd, Neurogastronomy Chapter 27 ()
  • Kessler, The End of Overeating, Ch 4-7 (20)
  • See reading notes above.

In-class

  • Food, Meaning, and the Brain

Gordon Shepard, C27, "Why Flavor Matters"

C27: Why Flavor Matters
  • brief summary.
  • Flavor at different life stages:
  • In the womb: flavors in amniotic fluid, rat study showing odor preference established pre-natally. Diet studies with pregnant women (using anise or carrot juice for eample) show similar results.
  • In infants: flavor and preference also communicated through breast milk
  • In childhood: research showing kids are hyper sensitive to SFS foods.
  • In adolescents.
  • Flavor and dieting in adults. Doesn’t work. 238: “key element missing in most discussions of diet is flavor”. Very important point. Cites Brownell’s “Food Fight” (2004) and Barbara Rolls.
  • In old age: research on loss of smell sense.


Food, Meaning, and the Brain

  • What are "food phenomena" that suggest the deep involvement of "meaning-making" and food?
  • Emotional eating - Can we hypothesize about this in light of Gordon/Kessler? Stress, SNS…?
  • Comfort foods — Conditioned place paradigm.
  • Ethnic eating and identity
  • Class and eating customs - associations of food and manner of eating with class membership (Dr. Oz story - crudities’ v “mixed veggies”. Obama’s arugula gaffe.)
  • Ethical eating —
  • Communal Eating — arguably, in trouble. Hard to meet diverse dietary requirements today. (Without going into things like texture preferences, etc.). The restaurant, happy hour menu, “apericena” solutions.
  • Christian "communion" - Eating god. Check out Jean Soler on this.
  • Entheogens - eating psychotropic substances to see god.
  • "Companionship" - etymology, Old French, "Compaignon" - One who breaks bread with another. Gets at the basic intimacy of eating together.
  • Meaningful feasting - Christian feast and fasting days, Thanksgiving, harvest eating.
  • Food and Romance - the "dinner date". Food intimacy before physical intimacy!
  • Terroir-based attachments - PNW Salmon, Jamon Iberico, baguettes in Paris, prosciutto e melone!
  • Meat ideology - ways that cultures associate meat (or their cuisine) with cultural superiority.
  • Food sensitivities in pregnancy - unexpected aversions and compulsions. Inutero flavor preferences and breast feeding flavor influences.(Shepard 234)