Philosophy has often been criticized for privileging the abstract; this volume attempts to remedy that situation. Focusing on one of the most concrete of human concerns, food, the editors argue for the existence of a philosophy of food. The collection provides various approaches to the subject matter, offering new readings of a number of textsreligious, philosophical, anthropological, culinary, poetic, and economic. Included are readings ranging from Platos Phaedo and Verses of Sen-No-Rikyu to Peter Singers Becoming a Vegetarian and Jean-Fran?ois Revels Culture and Cuisine.
This reader will have particular appeal for philosophers working in social theory, feminist theory, and environmental ethics, and for those working on alternative approaches to such traditional subject areas as epistemology, aesthetics, and metaphysics.
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Deane W. Curtin and Lisa M. Heldke
Section One
Deane W. Curtin: Food/Body/Person
Denise Levertov: Matins (excerpt)
Plato: from PHAEDO
Susan Bordo: Anorexia Nervosa: Psychopathology as the Crystallization of Culture
Kim Chernin: Confessions of an Eater
Kelly Oliver: Nourishing the Speaking Subject: A Psychoanalytic Approach to Abominable Food and Women
Maria Lugones: Playfulness, World-Traveling, and Loving Perception
David J. Kalupahana: The Indian Background, The Buddhas Conception of Personhood
Anna S. Meigs: Food Rules and the Traditional Sexual Ideology
Nancy Willard: How to Stuff a Pepper
Section Two
Deane W. Curtin: Recipes for Values
Jean-Francois Revel: From Culture and Cuisine
Dogen: Fushuku-Hamop(Meal-time Regulations)
Sen-no-rikyu: Verses of Sen-No-Rikyu
Calvin Trillin: From American Fried: Adventures of a Happy Eater
Peter Singer: Becoming a Vegetarian
From the Rig Veda: The Two Full of Butter
From the Bible: Genesis 1-3
From the Bible: Leviticus 11:1-47
Section Three
Lisa M. Heldke: Foodmaking ală