The Perfect Recipe
Taste and Tyranny, Cooks and Citizens
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12800114 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John E Finn (Wesleyan University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 503-524 |
| Publication date | 2011-09-26 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Food Culture & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1552-8014 • E-ISSN: 1751-7443 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.2752/175174411x13088262162677 |
| OpenAlex | W2755271705 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
This paper considers the implications of a particular kind of recipe, namely recipes that purport to be perfect, for democratic citizenship. I explore the political dimensions of perfect recipes not in terms of identity or community, but as a type of political instrument, or as manifesting a particular form of political obligation, based on the cook/reader's submission to the terms and commands of the recipe. We might thus describe the relationship between the perfect recipe and the reader/cook as authoritarian or autocratic. It is not much of an exaggeration to say that perfect recipes may make for good meals but bad cooks. But perfect recipes do more than make bad cooks—they make bad citizens because they encourage habits of docility and deference, both of which are inimical to democratic citizenship
Archaeology · Recipe · Computer Science · Culinary Culture and Tourism · History
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,17 |
| Citation span | 2014 - 2018 (5) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |