What Plato Said

This article seeks to remedy the neglect of and ambivalence towards food techniques in communication and media studies. Such ambivalence is identified here with ancient and contemporary arguments as to the irrational and ‘nonsymbolizing’ nature of food-related operations such as cookery and farming. The analysis draws on applications of the theory of cultural techniques that rely on its often overlooked origins as an agricultural science and, therefore, claim food techniques as media. To overcome what the author identifies as an intellectualist and literate bias towards food techniques in the discipline, they perform a close reading of ancient texts typically included as the first works of literature and communication in the Western canon: Homer’s The Odyssey and the dialogues of Plato. The article argues that to rehabilitate food techniques as media in the discipline requires a critical reassessment of Plato, in particular, as the so-called first theorist of communication.