Thomas Parker: Taste as biocultural, relational, and experiential

Why is it that cuisines have historically been dismissed as a serious field of study? How have social factors, such as cultural norms and class, influenced people’s perceptions of the prestige or disgust of different foods across different times? And how are acquired tastes and market demands for food shaped by the broader food landscape that people are situated within? In this episode, Green Dreamer’s kaméa chayne speaks with Thomas Parker, whose latest book is Paranatures in Culinary Culture: An Alimentary Ecology. Join us as we explore what is possible when we deepen our connections with the sources of our foods, and what it means to understand taste as multi-sensorial, experiential, and context-dependent — not just based on the objective biochemical compositions of what we ingest. We invite you to… tune in and subscribe to Green Dreamer via any podcast app; tap into our bonus extended and video version of this conversation on Patreon here; and read highlights from these conversations via Kaméa’s newsletter here. Song feature: “I am the Earth” by Olivia Mancuso (@oliviamancusomusic)