Tastescapes in Ghana. Eating, tasting and culinary praxis in northern Ghana

Senses, particularly sense of taste, smell and touch, have long been neglected within the anthropological studies of senses, which long favoured vision and hearring as rich with cultural meanings. It is argued, that it was Sidney Mintz’s book „Sweetness and Power”, that changed the perception of so called „lower senses” and especially taste, from corporeal and natural to culturally meaningful, shared and socially created. It is this assumption that shapes this PhD project, entitled „Tastescapes in Ghana. Eating, tasting and culinary praxis in Northern Ghana”. It is aimed at establishing broadly seen cultural meaning standing behind daily food choices, changes of diets, intergenerational discourse of taste and taste narratives. Elusive and corporeal, the taste is ubiquitous in everyday life through conscious and unconscious decisions, it pervades economic circumstances, mobility routes, family dependancies and others. Food and food related narratives and practices become focal point of quotidian actions. In particular, this project is interested in generational change of food preferences, food security and sense-making practices, which shape the look of modern day Ghanaian plates.