The aesthetic life of artificial flavors

Bibliographic Data

ID4364655
AuthorsAna María Ulloa (0000-0002-8076-673X, New School, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume13
Issue1
Pages60-74
Publication date2018-01-02
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Senses and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1745-8927 • E-ISSN: 1745-8935
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17458927.2017.1420026
OpenAlexW2789931244
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited21

Artificiality is usually understood as that which is man-made and is in contraposition to the natural. The term itself is increasingly recognized as a negative pole, while the label of "natural" is exploited as guarantee of healthiness in marketing food campaigns. This article takes issue with the natural/artificial debate by emphasizing the aesthetic side of artificial flavorings – chemical substances designed to alter or enhance the taste of processed foods. Here, I reconsider the conception of artificiality as a poor imitation of nature and instead underline the link between technology and aesthetics, by examining the practice of flavorists. Through ethnographic detail I call for moving the synthetic out of the "inauthentic" and argue that the attempt to mimic natural flavors through synthesis is not only an act of imitation and resemblance (as critics exclusively contend) but can also be thought as an act of representation and interpretation (as my fieldwork illuminates

Aesthetics · Artificiality · Epistemology · Ethnography · Imitation · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · Natural (archaeology · Naturalism · Perspective (graphical · Sociology · Taste · Anthropology · Biochemical Analysis and Sensing Techniques · Computer Science · Culinary Culture and Tourism · History · Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology · Artificial Intelligence

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub