Abstract

Man is what he eats. From Feuerbachian gastrotheology to nutrigenomics The first part of the contribution will aim to briefly reconstruct the socio-historical context in which the relationship between Feuerbach's anthropology and Moleschott's physiology was consolidated, in order to analyse the meaning behind the famous slogan 'man is what he eats'. In the second part, it will be shown how Feuerbach's idea that our food choices testify important characteristics of our modus essendi has found further scientific validation in today's Nutrigenomics, which since the 2000s has emerged as an independent field of research that has brought about major changes in food production, processing and consumption. The idea I intend to develop is that the Feuerbachian analysis of food can be useful in framing the conceptual cornerstones of nutrigenomics and in providing tools for framing and understanding this discipline.