Dispositions in the Kitchen: A Metaphysical Model for Molecular Gastronomy

Abstract

In this paper I argue that dispositionalism is the metaphysical theory that can best contribute to the construction of a metaphysical model for Molecular Gastronomy. Molecular Gastronomy is better explained if physical and chemical theories, which lie at the heart of Molecular Gastronomy, and cooking phenomena in general are described in terms of dispositions. This is the reason why trying to construct a metaphysical model for Molecular Gastronomy by using a dispositional metaphysics is a challenge worth taking on. I will thus explore what happens when we bring dispositions in the kitchen, and so the intersection between food, science and metaphysics. The main aim of the paper is then to pave the way toward the development of a metaphysical model for the physical and the chemical aspects behind Molecular Gastronomy. In the first section, I will briefly reconstruct the history of Molecular Gastronomy, give a definition of it and outline its program. In the second section, I will describe the version of dispositionalism that I adopt in this paper. In the third section, I will sketch a dispositional model for Molecular Gastronomy by relying on two case studies. In the fourth and final section I will draw my conclusions and raise some issues deserving further investigation.