A Philosophy of Sweetness

This book explores and analyses the many dimensions of sweetness, applying philosophical reflections and drawing on the author’s own experience as a pastry chef.

Sweetness has long been considered the most 'universal' of all tastes. By extension, sweet food has always been an expression of care and complicity. Yet, sweetness, especially in its sugary form, is seen as harmful to health, a cause of various physical illnesses as well as psychological subjugation. Confronting the complexity of sweetness requires a philosophical perspective. Through the lens of a relational aesthetics, this book conducts a systematic philosophical reflection on sweetness, understood not as a fixed quality but as dynamically defined within the web of relationships it inhabits. When investigated relationally, sweetness cannot be considered a concept with immutable, universal value. Sweetness gains meaning only through its relationships: it emerges as a singular encounter between eater and eaten, always situated and context-dependent. Navigating through sweet taste with its nourishing, reassuring, yet occasionally cloying and intrusive features, and exploring the concept and feeling of sweetness across different cultural contexts, this book analyses its perceptual and expressive richness. Surprisingly overlooked in the fields of philosophy, the subject holds compelling implications for our present-day connection with food, as well as our broader relationship with the environment and its widespread ‘sugarization.’

The book will be of great interest to students, scholars, and researchers in the fields of aesthetics, food studies and gastronomy, art history, and food anthropology, while also appealing to foodies and chefs.