042: Andrea Borghini - Philosopher of Food, Associate Professor at University of Milan, Italy

What's Burning

Andrea Borghini is Associate Professor in the Philosophy Department at the University of Milan, Italy, and Director of Culinary Mind, an international center promoting philosophical thinking on food with a multi-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary approach. His research develops theoretical tools to rethink how we speak, structure, sense, and feel about food, eating, and culinary cultures.

Born and raised in two small towns of central Tuscany, he professionally trained and worked in New York City and the Boston area for over 15 years.

His recent articles include:

‘Seven Philosophical Questions About Recipes’ (Bloomsbury, 2022);

‘Cooking and Dining as Forms of Public Art’ (Food, Culture, and Society, 2021, with Andrea Baldini);

'Hot Grapes: How to Locally Redesign Geographical Indications to Address the Impact of Climate Change' (with Nicola Piras and Beatrice Serini), World Development Sustainability, Volume 2 (2023);

'The Justice and Ontology of Gastrospaces' (with Matteo Bonotti, Nicola Piras, and Beatrice Serini), Ethical Theory and Moral Practice (2023).

‘Defective Food Concepts’ (Synthese, 2021, with Nicola Piras and Beatrice Serini);

‘Eating Local: A Philosophical Toolbox’ (Philosophical Quarterly, 2021, with Nicola Piras and Beatrice Serini);

‘From Obesity to Energy Metabolism. Ontological Perspectives on the Metrics of Human Bodies’ (Topoi, 2021, with DavideSerpico);

Andrea co-edited the collection of essays: A Philosophy of Recipes: Making, Experiencing, and Valuing (Bloomsbury, 2022, co-curated with Patrik Engisch).

On this episode, Andrea joins host Mitchell Davis and discusses the philosophical implications of cooking, deriving meaning through food, and the question of who really owns a recipe.

For more on Andrea, visit: https://sites.unimi.it/borghini/ and https://www.culinarymind.org/