The Coloniality of Modern Taste (Routledge Research on Decoloniality and New Postcolonialisms)

This book analyzes the coloniality of the concept of taste that gastronomy constructed and normalized as modern. It shows how gastronomy’s engagement with rationalist and aesthetic thought, and with colonial and capitalist structures, led to the desensualization, bureaucratization and racialization of its conceptualization of taste. __The Coloniality of Modern Taste__ provides an understanding of gastronomy that moves away from the usual celebratory approach. Through a discussion of nineteenth-century gastronomic publications, this book illustrates how the gastronomic notion of taste was shaped by a number of specifically modern constraints. It compares the gastronomic approach to taste to conceptualizations of taste that emerged in other geographical and philosophical contexts to illustrate that the gastronomic approach stands out as particularly bereft of affect. The book argues that the understanding of taste constructed by gastronomic texts continues to burden the affective experience of taste, while encouraging patterns of food consumption that rely on an exploitative and unsustainable global food system. This book will appeal to students and scholars interested in cultural studies, decoloniality, affect theory, sensory studies, gastronomy and food studies. This book analyzes the coloniality of the concept of taste that gastronomy constructed and normalized as modern. It shows how gastronomy’s engagement with rationalist and aesthetic thought, and with colonial and capitalist structures, led to the desensualization, bureaucratization and racialization of its conceptualization of taste. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication 6 Table of Contents 8 Acknowledgments 9 Introduction: What Is Gastronomy? 12 The Myth of the Liberation of Taste 14 The Problem with Gastronomy 20 Notes 26 References 28 Chapter 1: The Narrative of Gastronomic Progress 30 Eurocentric Voice and Perspective 35 Conflation of Space and Time 38 Western Protagonism 40 A Borgesian Parody 46 Notes 48 References 51 Chapter 2: Desensualizing Taste 54 The Gastronomic Compromise 56 Scientia Gastronomica, Not Ars Sensualis 61 Humor and the Discomfort with the Gastronomic Compromise 67 Notes 73 References 75 Chapter 3: Bureaucratizing Taste 77 Print as a Technology of Taste 83 Standardizing Cooking 87 Standardizing Eating 92 Notes 97 References 99 Chapter 4: Racializing Taste 102 The Disavowal of Spices 105 The Containment of Spices 110 The Racialization of Gustatory Differences 114 Authenticity and the Surveillance of the Racialized Gustatory Order 119 Notes 124 References 127 Chapter 5: Taste, Otherwise 131 Taste in Classical Arabic Thought 133 Taste in Chinese thought 140 Taste in Indic Thought 145 Taste in Nahua Thought 151 Taste in Yorùbá Thought 153 Notes 156 References 160 Conclusion: The Gustatory Logic of Consumer Capitalism 163 The Coloniality of Taste 164 Desensualization 164 Bureaucratization 165 Racialization 169 Decolonial Taste Yearnings 173 Notes 177 References 179 Index 182 Gastronomy;,desensualization,of,taste;,bureaucratization,of,taste;,racialization,of,taste;,conceptualization,of,taste;,gastronomic,approach;,decoloniality;,affect,theory;,sensory,studies;,food,studies;,modern,taste Gastronomy,desensualization of taste,bureaucratization of taste,racialization of taste,conceptualization of taste,gastronomic approach,decoloniality,affect theory,sensory studies,food studies,modern taste "This book analyzes the coloniality of the concept of taste that gastronomy constructed and normalized as modern. It shows how gastronomy's engagement with rationalist and aesthetic thought, and with colonial and capitalist structures, led to the desensualization, bureaucratization and racialization of its conceptualization of taste. The Coloniality of Modern Taste provides an understanding of gastronomy that moves away from the usual celebratory approach. Through a discussion of nineteenth century gastronomic publications, this book illustrates how the gastronomic notion of taste was shaped by a number of specifically modern constraints. It compares the gastronomic approach to taste to conceptualizations of taste that emerged in other geographical and philosophical contexts to illustrate that the gastronomic approach stands out as particularly bereft of affect. The book argues that the understanding of taste constructed by gastronomic texts continues to burden the affective experience of taste, while encouraging patterns of food consumption that rely on an exploitative and unsustainable global food system. This book will appeal to students and scholars interested in cultural studies, decoloniality, affect theory, sensory studies, gastronomy, and food studies"-- Provided by publisher