Hedonic and Normative Rules in Food Appreciation

Presented by Matteo Ravasio (University of Auckland)

In this paper, I consider two different types of rules governing the production and consumption of food. The first group is that of hedonic (or pleasure-maximising) rules. The second group is constituted by what I will call normative rules, that is, rules that pose conditions on what counts as acceptable in our production and consumption of food, on the grounds of the identifying properties of the food item in question. I examine at length the possible interactions between hedonic and normative rules. I end the paper suggesting that normative rules could be crucial in accounting for the aesthetic appreciation of food.