Philosophy of Food | Friday, period 1

[sharp_man]

Hannibal arranged everything on the desk, then waited for the students to arrive, smiling as they came in.

Once they were there, he leaned against the desk and began. "Last week, we discussed what makes us see something as food. There are various reasons you may or may not see something as food that another person does. This week, the question is: Why do we eat?"

He waved at the food and drink behind him. "There are the obvious answers; most people will start with, 'we eat because we're hungry'. But it's rarely so clear-cut. Each section I've set up is a pair of foods. You may eat or drink only one from each pair. Choose one - or neither - and explain to us why. Feel free to debate it with each other as well, and to ask me or each other questions."

He leaned forward. "Remember, there are no wrong answers; the idea is to think about it."

Comments

Re: Third pairing

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Because it's mindless," Summer shrugged. "You're not faced with the reality of it, so you don't have to feel guilt for it. It's like a person who knows fast food is bad for them, but they get a double bacon burger anyway. It's like, in some place, they started including calorie counts on all the menus, right? So then they see that the meal they were going to order is like 1800 calories, and it makes them think twice, while they didn't give a second thought before. Ignorance is bliss, even if it's forced ignorance."

Re: Third pairing

[sharp_man]

"But this isn't ignorance," Hannibal pointed out, "it's...allowing self-delusion, would you say?"

Re: Third pairing

[somethingwithturquoise]

"I...guess," Summer said slowly, but she nodded a little. "It's turning a blind eye, in a way. It's, like, sure, it's a dead fish, but if it doesn't look so much like a dead fish, we can kind of just...you know...forget about it. I mean, I'm sure some people don't even really care, but I think the majority of people kind of do a little bit."

Re: Third pairing

[sharp_man]

"It varies across societies and cultures," Hannibal said. "But that in itself is interesting. It suggests that it is a cultural bias, rather than an anatomical one."

Re: Third pairing

[somethingwithturquoise]

"That's a good point," Summer realized. "That's why some cultures are totally down with chowing on dog, but that idea's repulsive in a lot of other places."

She could think of multiple alien examples she'd encountered, too, but let's keep things planetary for at least one fairly normal moment in her life.

Re: Third pairing

[sharp_man]

Hannibal nodded. "Horse is another. In some cultures, it is a staple; in others, it is a delicacy. And in some, it is forbidden."