Gastrosophy
In gastrosophy (from ancient Greek γαστήρ gaster 'belly' and σοφία sophia 'wisdom') different natural and human sciences subjects work together. The focus is on cultural research into nutrition and society . All aspects of food production , processing , marketing and consumption are examined , whereby not only material technical areas, but also the importance of the food cultures of different epochs, ethical and sociological aspects are considered.
The origins of gastrosophy in today's sense can be traced back to the ancient Egyptians, for example in the Ebers papyrus , which points to the complex relationships between food and life. From a philosophical point of view, the Greek writings on dietetics are pioneering, especially in Epicurus , who declares the stomach to be the root of good. Important accents for the pleasure-oriented handling of stomach, taste, food and life can later be found in Montaigne . The theological debate about transubstantiation , especially with Descartes, is informative for the connections between food and thought . The modern term gastrosophy appears in William Maginn's 1824 , in the spirit of the “gastronomy transcendante”, which Jean Anthèlme Brillat-Savarin introduces as part of a physiology of taste. Mankind is divided into digestive types: the regular, the reticent and the slack. In German-speaking countries, the term appears at Baron Eugene of Vaerst in Gastrosophy or doctrine of the pleasures of the table (1851). The enjoyment of food is elevated to an art form. A distinction is made between three types of eater: the gourmand , the gourmet and finally the gastrosoph, who chooses the best when eating, taking health and morality into account.
The traditional interest in "learned viscera" concerns sexuality and digestion. On the surface, gastrosophy can be understood as a doctrine of the joys of the table, which, however, cannot be limited to teachings of the joys of the palate and tongue. The belly symbolizes the original seat of all forms of appetite. Accordingly, the interplay of different lusts forms a center of gastrosophilic attention, for example with Brillat-Saverin, Fourrier and Vaerst. However, since the end of the 19th century, the term has also been used in general for literature that is dedicated to the preparation and presentation of food and luxury foods; these are broadly cooking and recipe books , but also Tranchierbücher , books (for Esskunst to desktop devices cutlery , crockery , etc.) for serving to cookware and kitchen facilities, for baking , for confectionery , for preserving and menu cards counted this can become. The uncritical use of the term can, however, contribute to the flattening of gastrosophic reflection, up to and including theories of belly contempt or “gastrophobia”.
As a scientific subject, gastrosophy is still in its infancy. Your subject area may overlap. a. with nutritional sociology , food research , cultural history , anthropology , ecotrophology , medicine and philosophy .
Karl Friedrich von Rumohr became known as a German-speaking gastrosoph , after whom the Karl-Friedrich-von-Rumohr-Ring, the highest award of the Gastronomic Academy in Germany , is named. In Germany today, Harald Lemke and Thomas Mohrs in particular, and nutritional ethicists such as Hans Werner Ingensiep , Franz-Theo Gottwald and Konrad Ott are well-known representatives and masterminds of gastrosophic thought.
Gastrosophy as a future topic
The director of the International Gastrosophy Forum, the philosopher Harald Lemke, has been propagating the necessity of a “global food turnaround” in various ethical, political, aesthetic and cultural-philosophical writings for years. The term "gastrosophy" is used to designate a future-ethical movement for enjoyment and good food culture. Under the motto '' Good food for all '', proponents of gastrosophy deal with holistic questions and concepts for the global and local food transition.
The program of the new gastrosophy is determined by the social concern - analogous to the energy transition and parallel to the UN goals of sustainable development - to demand a comprehensive transformation of the global food situation. The basic idea is that the way in which food is currently being produced, marketed and consumed worldwide must be recognized as one of the main causes of the civilizational crisis with the greatest consequences. At the same time, there are alternatives and counter-movements in civil society, politics, the economy as well as in the education sector, medicine, gastronomy, tourism or in the fields of art, culture and science, which already perceive the transformative forces of food that is better for everyone. The internationally active non-governmental organization Slow Food should be mentioned as an example of civil society actors.
In cooperation with the University of Salzburg and the Center for Gastrosophy there (located at the Institute for History), the Study Center in Saalfelden has been offering the first university master’s course in “Gastrosophic Sciences” since 2009. The International Gastrosophie Forum (IFG) has also been active as a non-university think tank since 2015. In addition to research, advice and education, the forum regularly organizes philosophical and culinary symposia on changing topics with the specially developed Gastrosophicum event format.
literature
- Jean Anthèlme Brillat-Savarin: Physiologie du goût: Méditations de gastronomie transcendante. Santelet, Paris 1826, ISBN 978-1-4212-1839-7 ; German: Physiology of taste or physiological instructions for studying table pleasures , translated and annotated by Carl Vogt, 1st edition, Vieweg, Braunschweig 1865.
- Daniele Dell'Agli (Ed.): Eating as if not: Gastrosophic models. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-518-12518-2 .
- Christian Denker: From the spirit of the stomach: For a philosophy of digestion. transcript, Bielefeld 2015, ISBN 978-3-8394-3071-2 .
- Klaus Ebenhöh, Wolfgang Popp : The philosopher in a pot: Thinking eaters - eating thinkers. Residenz Verlag, St. Pölten / Salzburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7017-3099-5 .
- Gisèle Harrus-Révidi: The art of enjoyment: Eating culture and love of life. Artemis & Winkler publishing house, Düsseldorf 1996, ISBN 3-538-06643-4 .
- Christian Hoffstadt u. a. (Ed.): Gastrosophical Turn: Eating between medicine and the public. Projektverlag, Freiburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-89733-202-7 .
- Jean-Claude Kaufmann : Cooking passion. Sociology of Cooking and Eating. UVK, Konstanz 2006, ISBN 978-3-89669-558-1 .
- Harald Lemke : The art of eating. An aesthetic of culinary taste. Transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2007, ISBN 978-3-89942-686-1 .
- Harald Lemke: Ethics of Eating. An Introduction to Gastrosophy. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-05-004301-2 .
- William Maginn (Sir Morgan O'Doherty): Maxims. Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 15. William Blackwood, Edinburgh / London 1824.
- Franz Xavier Mayr: Beauty and Digestion: The rejuvenation of humans only through proper maintenance of the intestines. Verlag Neues Leben, Thüringerberg 2005, ISBN 3-85335-063-1 .
- Michel Onfray : Le Ventre des philosophes: Critique de la raison diététique. Grasset, Paris 1989, ISBN 978-2253053828 .
- Ebers papyrus : The oldest book on medicine, for the first time fully translated from Egyptian. Heinrich Joachim, Georg Reimer, Berlin 1890.
- Peter Peter : Cultural history of German cuisine. CH Beck-Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-406-57224-1
- Carl Friedrich von Rumohr : Spirit of the culinary art. Cotta, Stuttgardt / Tübingen 1822. New edition (1978) with a foreword by Wolfgang Koeppen , Insel Verlag, Berlin / Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-458-35333-1 .
- Eugen FC Baron von Vaerst: Gastrosophy or the theory of the joys of the table. Avenarius & Mendelssohn, Leipzig 1851, ISBN 3-8077-0042-0 .
Web links
- Article: Harald Lemke (2001) “Aesthetics of good taste: preliminary studies for a gastrosophy” (PDF; 121 kB).
- Website of the interdisciplinary journal Culinaire
- Epicurus - Journal of Gastrosophy
- Tartuffel - book reviews, reports, interviews and reports about gastrosophy.
- International Forum for Gastrosophy.