Poles talk about eating... Conceptualisation of the act of eating in light of Polish lexis

Abstract

This article discusses the Polish vocabulary related to the act of eating. Assuming that lexis acts as a sensitive device to detect and record changes in history and culture, and referring to the methodology of cognitive linguistics, I describe three conceptualisation profiles of the act of eating. The first one described is the biological profile (with 3 cognitive pathways: food is life, food is strength, and food is protection).In the field of “verbs of eating” treated as a biological fact, I distinguish the ones describing the act of eating from the viewpoint of the way it is performed, particularly the speed (fast – slow) and the size of the portions put into the mouth (small or large bites), the amount of food consumed, aesthetics, apparent appetite, and a kind of rhythmicity and automatism of eating or using cutlery, the function of which in eating is compared to an oar – while sailing a boat or a sword – during a fight. Afterwards, I deal with more recent cognitive profiles: psychological and cultural. In particular, I am interested in the contemporary changes, established in language, in the approach to the act of eating towards treating it, for instance, as a threat or disturbance from the sphere of the human psyche (cf. jedzenioholizm (binge eating), feederyzm (feederism), manoreksja (manorexia), ortoreksja (orthorexia), etc.), a way of spending time (cf. gastroturystyka (gastrotourism), foodie, pornografia jedzenia (food pornography), etc.), or as a specific philosophy of life and a component of the human cultural identity (cf. freeganin (a freegan), frutarianin (a fruitarian), fleksitarianin (a flexitarian), solarianin (a solarian))