The Re-enchantment of Food: An Introduction

To say that humans have a profound relationship with the food they produce and eat is a mere truism. What is new derives from the recognition that in Western cultures, over time, our deep relationship with food has been replaced by a scientistic version of what we eat, and what we should eat. In many ways, this has dis-enchanted our relationship with food, in that it has rendered food as the sum total of a calculus based on vitamins, minerals, and energy content. The movements that are now growing around food – ethical, plant based, provenance aware – speak to new understandings of food which acknowledge that food is actually more than its sum of parts. These new movements share a common goal and that is to seek a re-enchantment with food. This article, which speaks very much from an anglo-tradition, discusses this ways in which dis- and re-enchantment of food has developed.