Discussing Taste: A Conversation between Carolyn Korsmeyer and Russell Pryba

Abstract

Carolyn Korsmeyer’s 1999 book “Making Sense of Taste” is a recent watershed in the philosophy of food and necessary reading for anyone interested in the rehabilitation of food and taste as subjects for philosophical inquiry. Unlike previous writers who engaged with food philosophically, Korsmeyer takes the representational power of food seriously. Although she was not influenced by somaesthetics at the time, her work shares many central themes with somaesthetics. As an early proponent of the “bodily turn” in philosophy, Korsmeyer’s work helped to prepare the ground for the recent explosion of academic interest in the aesthetic dimensions of eating. The following interview, conducted via Skype and email in September 2015, explores her interest in food as a philosophical topic, the relation of her work to somaesthetics, and her more recent writings on disgust.