Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
contemporary sociologists, who insist on
the arbitrary character of the regulations
of social life. These regulations are seen
as forming a system corresponding to a
necessary pattern which is understood
only by God: He sets himself against the
ignorant anarchy of men, who are not
directed by the Revelation but obey only
their own psycho-physiological impulses.
This is very well expressed in a
adī
which is said to have been uttered by Ibn
Abbās: “The people of the
āhiliyya
used
to eat certain things and abstain from
others simply from distaste. But God sent
His Prophet and revealed His Book; He
allowed that which was lawful and for-
bade that which was unlawful in His eyes.
That which He has permitted is lawful,
that which He has forbidden is unlawful
and that on which He has kept silent is
tolerated (
afw
). Then Ibn Abbās recited
the urān, VI, 146/145”.
not only the sense of taste but the sense
of smell and others), comprising distinc-
tions and preferences. It is moreover still
often difficult (given the lack of sufficiently
detailed studies) to distinguish within this
system between the elements which are
“natural” (based on physiology) although
transmitted by tradition and those which
belong to the arbitrary rules of social con-
duct. Furthermore, some small groups set
up and propagate their own systems of
values, generally within the margin left by
the social system, but sometimes exceed-
ing this. Finally, individuals are subject to
their own physiological and psychological
conditioning, also within the system incul-
cated by the society and the group, but
sometimes going beyond it.
We can mention here only some of the
features which are connected with this
aesthetic approach to food. Among the
distinctions made are of course the four
specifically gustative flavours: sweet, sour,
salt, bitter (Arabic
ulw, āmi, malī, murr
)
with the various degrees and varieties of
insipidity (Ar.
malī, masī
, “completely
insipid”;
tafih
“without either real sweet-
ness, acidity or bitterness”); the qualities,
perhaps connected with a chemical sen-
sitivity, such as highly-spiced (in Arabic,
as in English, called “hot”,
ārr
, hence a
group of seeds called “hot seeds”,
abzār
ārra
; cf. in French the four “semences
chaudes”: fennel, carraway, cumin, ani-
seed), piquant (
āri
, not always inter-
changeable with sour,
āmi
), astringent
(
ābi
), pungent (
afi
), or those which
correspond more closely to the chemical
composition of the foods (fat, Ar.
samīn,
i.e.
, rich in fats, similarly “oily, greasy,
λιπαρός
”, Ar.
dasim
) and those connected
with smell To these should be added the
sensations due to heat and cold, to a brit-
tle or soft consistency, etc. The various
preferences are expressed with reference
to these distinctions. The taste for fat is
8.
Aesthetic factors
Certain ideas, attitudes and recommen-
dations concerning food are based neither
on the categories of useful or harmful
(ideas and recommendations of secular
ideology) nor on those of good or evil (reli-
gious ideas, recommendations and regula-
tions), but on those of what is agreeable
or disagreeable. Several of these ideas and
attitudes are in a sense “natural”, that is
to say linked with a conditioning which
is specific (pertaining to the human spe-
cies in general ), ethnic (with variations
due in part to geographical conditions)
or individual, based on the physiological
peculiarities of the species, the group or
the individual respectively. But the physi-
ological facts influencing the species or
the group leave at the same time a certain
margin of choice. Within this margin, each
society chooses and inculcates in its mem-
bers from childhood a system of values in
taste (in the widest sense,
i.e.
, including
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