Gastronomy is Not About Haute Cuisine

Issue Vol. 1 — Deconstructing Gastronomy: Socially Constructed Quality

1. The Centrality of Food

Movimento Metropolitano (MoM) goes beyond the search for delicious dishes. It examines society through the lens of gastronomy, a comprehensive system of knowledge.

The Latin sapore (to taste) shares its roots with sapere (to know). Tasting is a way to know the world. As Brillat-Savarin famously suggested, we are what we eat. Food helps us understand humanity. To define a modern ‘Neo-Gastronomy’, we must first adopt this perspective. 2. Quality as a Cultural Construct A core perspective shared by MoM is that quality is not an inherent property of food. Instead,

quality is something we construct within our culture and context.

Highly regarded concepts like ‘terroir’—the link between food and its origin—only rose to prominence as a reaction against modern mass production. Perspectives on value vary wildly by location.

A Brazilian colleague once noted; In my country, imported goods from Europe or the US are often perceived as higher quality than domestic products”. Meanwhile, a city like Tokyo relies heavily on imports. Because of this, local consumption is seen as the ultimate ideal. This is not a universal fact; it is a bias of the environment. 3. Defining Authenticity As the historian Massimo Montanari suggests, Food culture is inherently hybrid. It is always mixing and evolving. In our global system, defining a fixed ‘tradition’ or a pure ‘origin’ is almost impossible. We must distinguish between two distinct concepts:

⚫︎ Quality: An internal value we believe in. ⚫︎ Authenticity: An external verification recognised by others.

Authenticity is a boundary line. Humans draw this line for the sake of power or marketing. It functions as a story—a way to present ‘the real thing’ to consumers to provide a sense of security.

4. Identity Beyond Boundaries A winemaker near Alba, in Piedmont, owns vineyards sitting just outside the prestigious Barolo zone. Because they cannot use the famous name, they turned this boundary into an advantage. They now operate under the brand ‘Drink Wine Not Labels’.

This is the essence of Neo-Gastronomy: reclaiming the internal value of the product from the external labels of the market. 5. Authenticity Created by the Market The battle over ‘authenticity’ is visible across the global market. The ‘matcha’ boom is a symbolic example.

Authentic matcha requires tea leaves grown under shade (like Gyokuro) and ground by stone mills. It is a slow, and incredibly time-consuming manual process. Yet the global market trades cheap, machine-crushed powder at high prices under the same label.

This is more than an issue of ‘fake’ products. We must ask: ‘What are consumers actually consuming?’ Many seek a constructed image: the aesthetic, the ‘well-being’ vibe, or the trend of the café. Authenticity is not an absolute truth. It is a boundary rewritten by market demand and power dynamics.

6. The First Step Toward ‘Neo-Gastronomy’ Gastronomy is not solely a journey to experience delicious food. It’s an intellectual adventure to decode the story behind the taste. We must ask:

‘Who defined this as authentic, and for what purpose?’

Trust systems vary by country and region. Europe relies on strict certifications whilst Japan often uses domestic labels or major manufacturers as a shield of reliability. Behind every food, there are power structures and narratives.

Neo-Gastronomy requires us to deconstruct three words: identity, tradition, and authenticity. We must discern the intent behind them.

Why not pause when you pick up a product at the supermarket? Try to think about the source. Movimento Metropolitano believes this intellectual process is the first step toward a sustainable future for food. Follow our journey @movimento.metropolitano.

Reference list: ・Brillat-Savarin, Jean-Anthelme. (2015). The Physiology of Taste: Or Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy. Introduction by Carlo Petrini, Slow Food Editore. ・Montanari, M. (2006). Food is culture. Columbia University Press.

・Bremzen, A. von. (2023). National dish: Around the world in search of food, history, and the meaning of home. ONE.