Julian Baggini: The Virtues of The Table

Is food the key to what makes us human and should we spend even more time thinking about it? Julian is a philosopher, author and founder of The Philosophers' Magazine and Microphilosophy, a website of small thoughts about BIG subjects: from ego tricks to atheism, pigs 'that want to be eaten' to those that presumably don't. His most recent book, 'The Virtues of the Table' looks at how we eat, farm and shop and how food choices involve every aspect of our human nature: from the cultural to the creative, the emotional to the intellectual.

Julian questions the very fundamentals of eating. Why does food gives us pleasure? Does ethical food taste better? Can dining be more than a hedonistic pursuit? Looking across cultures and time periods, he examines at the symbolic value of meals and attempts to find answers. Essential viewing for foodies and philosophers alike.