Agenda UV

Whenever we appreciate something aesthetically, we do it from a specific perspective. The palate is not an exception: our gastronomical taste, that is, the personal criteria with which we aesthetically judge food is shaped through individual and collective processes along our lives. On a personal level, sensorial experiences, food choices and sociocultural contexts have an influence. On a cultural level, it gets shaped along centuries of history of exchange of ingredients and culinary techniques. Taking a look to the pages of Llibre de Sent Soví, the first written register of recipes in the Iberian Peninsula that includes the cuisine of the elites of the Crown of Aragon, it allows us to appreciate transformation and continuity of the gastronomical practices.

The selection of ingredients and preparations described in the Sent Soví is also a desire map. Many aspects motivate it. On the one hand, the aesthetical fascination: the palate selects sensations, stimuli, flavours and scents that appear as interesting to it. However, there are other types of desire: the desire of showing off or pleasing guests, proving political or economical power, spending a lot of money, overeating or getting drunk.

La construcció del gust (in English, the construction of taste) proposes an inmersion in scents and flavours of the medieval gastronomy to reflect on our personal palate and the reasons that explain our food choices.

Exploring the world through our most corporal senses (taste, smell and touch) is key to know our own body, as well as the environment we live in. This sensorial relatioship is essential to make informed decisions on our diet, especially in a context in which the food industry prioritise the economical profit over the human and planet health, shaping our consumption patterns.