Eat, Drink, Think: What Ancient Greece Can Tell Us about Food and Wine

Description

What role does food play in the shaping of humanity? Is sharing a good meal with friends and family an experience of life at its best, or is food merely a burdensome necessity? David Roochnik explores these questions by discussing classical works of Greek literature and philosophy in which food and drink play an important role. With thoughts on Homer’s The Odyssey, Euripides’ Bacchae, Plato’s philosopher kings and Dionysian intoxication, Roochnik shows how foregrounding food in philosophy can open up new ways of understanding these thinkers and their approaches to the purpose and meaning of life. The book features philosophical explanation interspersed with reflections from the author on cooking, eating, drinking and sharing meals, making it important reading for students of philosophy, classical studies, and food studies. Cover Half Title Series Title Copyright Dedication Epigraph Contents Copyright Acknowledgements Prelude 1 The Eatingest Epic I Supper in the Odyssey II A Good Meal as an Affirmation of Transience III Helen’s Opiate IV The Vital Importance of Stories V The Odyssey as a Story about a Storyteller VI Identity and Names VII Recognitions VIII The Shades in Hades IX Justice in the Odyssey X The Odyssey as an Affirmation of Life Interlude1 (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) 2 Dionysus I Euripides’ Bacchae II The Dionysian Journey of Lawrence Osborne III William James as a Dionysian IV Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy Interlude2 (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) 3 Socrates I The Symposium II Socrates’ Metaphorical Feast III Recollection in Plato’s Phaedo IV Christianity: Spiritual Nourishment V Homer’s Nightmare: Soylent Interlude3 (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (25) (26) (27) (28) (29) (30) (31) (32) (33) (34) (35) 4 Aristotle I The Four Issues of This Book II Aristotle as Zoologist III Form as Species IV Aristotle as Apollinian V The Nutritive Psuchê VI The Perceptive Psuchê VII The Generation of Animals VIII Aristotle’s Intellect IX Is the Psuchê Immortal? X What Is Knowing? XI The Fractured Psuchê Postlude (36) (37) (38) (39) (40) (41) (42) (43) (44) (45) (46) (47) (48) (49) (50) (51) (52) (53) (54) Notes 1 The Eatingest Epic 2 Dionysus Interlude 3 Socrates 4 Aristotle Bibliography Index