A Phenomenology of Taste : Researching different perceptions of the good tomato

Abstract

Due to fewer people being directly involved in agricultural food production, there is a decline in direct, practical knowledge of food growing processes. Thus there is a lack of understanding ecological effects of food production. Despite fewer farmers and the significant negative ecological effects of industrial scale agriculture, a globalized food system provides a great quantity of food choices and continuity of food supply. While being offered a continuous supply and choice of foods, an eater without direct knowledge of food growing processes may not be capable of evaluating foods for ecological effects. And, in such case, a food quality may not seem related to ecological quality. Differing knowledge of how and where food is grown entails differing food values. Since our food choices pose ecological effects and a personal food preference may motivate a choice, what causes a person's perception of a preferable food?