The Challenges of Dietary Pluralism

Forthcoming in M. Rawlinson (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Food Ethics, New York: Routledge

15 Pages Posted: 29 Jul 2015

See all articles by Emanuela Ceva

Emanuela Ceva

University of Pavia, Department of Political and Social Sciences

Chiara Testino

University of Pavia

Federico Zuolo

University of Genoa

Date Written: July 22, 2015

Abstract

The existence of diverse and often competing food standards is one of the most ordinary and yet theoretically underexplored facts of contemporary societies. Such standards concern what it is permissible to eat and how food should be produced and prepared. Vegetarianism illustrates the former, religious ritual animal slaughter exemplifies the latter. The normative implications of this sort of pluralism – call it “dietary pluralism” (DP) – have rarely been the subject of philosophical discussion. This is quite surprising given the centrality of certain dietary claims to a person’s integrity. Eating is, arguably, one of the most ordinary and yet intimate actions, in relation to which individual evaluative standards, cultural habits, and legal regulations are very often inextricably interwoven in constituting a person’s sense of her own self. By referring to illustrative cases of ritual slaughter and the request for a vegetarian option in public canteens, in this paper we aim to show the philosophical importance of DP by identifying its main features and the challenges it raises for political institutions.

Keywords: Pluralism, Liberalism, Food policies, Multiculturalism, Vegetarianism

Suggested Citation

Ceva, Emanuela and Testino, Chiara and Zuolo, Federico, The Challenges of Dietary Pluralism (July 22, 2015). Forthcoming in M. Rawlinson (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Food Ethics, New York: Routledge, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2635772

Emanuela Ceva (Contact Author)

University of Pavia, Department of Political and Social Sciences ( email )

Corso Strada Nuova, 65
27100 Pavia, 27100
Italy

HOME PAGE: http://www-3.unipv.it/webdsps/en/docente.php?id=ceva

Chiara Testino

University of Pavia ( email )

Corso Strada Nuova, 65
27100 Pavia, 27100
Italy

Federico Zuolo

University of Genoa ( email )

Via Vivaldi 5
Genova, 16126
Italy

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