The Physiology of Taste. From Culinary to Literary Art

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to look at gastronomy as a form of art. In this respect, gastronomy developed as part of the civilizing process and as the refinement of the mores progressed. Just as literature, gastronomy implies the ideas of pleasure and experiment. As writers displayed a great interest in gastronomy, this form of art also became a subject of their literature and, at a more subtle level it became an exercise in a certain sensibility. The present study proposes an insight into literary history in its gastronomic implications in the writings of Romanian authors such as M. Kogălniceanu, C. Negruzzi, M. Sadoveanu or Al. O. Teodoreanu. They displayed a conspicuous interest in culinary art, in the physiology of taste as well as in modernity’s innovations.