On Food in General
The evolution of osmazome and its relevence in contemporary New Zealand
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24135/92v43j02Keywords:
Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, Gastronomy, New Zealand, OsmazomeAbstract
Brillat-Savarin treated gastronomy as a science, from which he extensively talked about human physiology, chemistry and science. These beliefs and concepts are seen within his magnum opus, “The Physiology of Taste,” released in 1825. If, as Brillat-Savarin states, gastronomy is the motivator for anybody who ‘seeks, provides or prepares,’ then it could be surmised that gastronomy plays a significant role in the modern New Zealand economy where a significant proportion of nation GDP comes from people who ‘seek, provide or prepare' some form of food product.
This essay critically analyses Brillat-Savarin's fifth meditation, “On Food in General”, focusing on the section dedicated to the early nineteenth-century theory of osmazome and placing it within the New Zealand context.
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