Tasting Cultures: Thoughts for Food

A myriad of fresh possibilities is offered when researching in food studies. Just like any other area of knowledge, researchers here breathe the present because they have already absorbed the past and can easily try to devise the future. As the question of authenticity and adaptability rises urgently, we gain knowledge of the specificities where cultural heritage faces assimilation from other lifestyles, in an effort to save and reshape the community and its cultural identity. Food researchers have also struggled with the constructions and measuring of tastes within diverse communities by comparison to other references, even though it has become harder to discern matters from expert advice and controlled mediation. Therefore, we invariably come across the power of representations, in deep association with culture and the society that produces them, for there are increasingly complex food systems bearing diverse layers of meaning.