Seven dimensions of taste—taste in a sociological and educational perspective

This chapter presents a sociological theory of taste and a didactics of taste. Why is a chapter on taste relevant in a book on food science? Because food science without a theory of taste is like music science without a theory of melody, harmony, and rhythm. Our basic idea is that taste is much more than just what our taste buds and senses tell us. Taste has a number of social and cultural dimensions. We sense with our taste buds, but we taste with our “cultural senses.” The first section presents a systematic division of taste into seven main dimensions: sensed taste, delicious taste, healthy taste, moral taste, loving taste, religious taste, and trendy taste. The second section comprises taste as an instrument and object of teaching. This section answers the question of how teaching can enable the students to develop knowledge and skills regarding the seven dimensions of taste. The chapter presents the results of the authors’ ongoing research in taste sociology and taste didactics with a special focus on a system theoretical analysis of the interplay between the physiological, the psychic, and the social system.