THE PHILOSOPHY OF FOOD IN UKRAINE DURING WARTIME: ETHNOCULTURAL MODELS AND EXISTENTIAL REALITIES
Keywords:
philosophy of food, Ukrainian food practices, national cuisine, sensory memory, cultural identity, gastronomic heritage, decolonizationAbstract
This article presents a comprehensive philosophical and cultural analysis of Ukrainian food practices during wartime, conceptualized as a form of extreme existential experience that transforms food from a physiological necessity into a multilayered symbolic phenomenon imbued with cultural, moral, and ontological meanings. The aim of the study is to conceptualize the philosophy of food as an integrative analytical field for understanding the role of sensory memory, gastronomic identity, and ritualized forms of social interaction. The methodological framework incorporates hermeneutic analysis of culinary texts, philosophical theories of corporeality, cultural anthropology, and material culture studies, enabling the interpretation of food as a mediator of historical and collective memory.Special attention is devoted to the analysis of Soviet gastronomic unification, which led to the denationalization of Ukrainian cuisine through the standardization of recipes and the erasure of urban culinary traditions, as well as to current decolonial processes manifested in the revival of local recipes and the rejection of Soviet stereotypes. The philosophy of food is theorized within the domain of Ukrainian humanities as a component of postcolonial discourse that resists imperial attempts at cultural erasure and emerges as a form of moral resistance embodied in sensory experience.The practical significance of the research lies in the development of new analytical approaches to understanding food as an instrument of cultural restoration, solidarity, and gastronomic diplomacy in the context of global challenges.The study highlights the role of volunteer initiatives, food preparation for defenders, and the culinary practices of the diaspora in promoting Ukrainian culture abroad and counteracting the historical expropriation of traditional dishes. Ukrainian gastronomic practices during wartime function as an ontological mechanism for preserving cultural memory and reconstructing social order in times of existential crisis, providing temporary identity stability under radical conditions.
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