Sensory Interactions with Food and Nature in Bhutan’s Climate Crisis

Derived from our ethnographic fieldwork in Bhutan, this paper investigates how sensory experiences mediate the understanding of climate change impacts, particularly in the context of food-related spiritual practices. Building on insights by David Howes (2003) on gustatory cannibalism and exchange psychology, the paper specifically looks at the impact of climate change on gustatory shifts in Bhutan. The findings suggest that taste is not only a sensory experience but also a mediator of social exchanges that strengthens the cultural and spiritual ties of the communities to their environment. In the Bhutanese context, the diminishing taste of traditional foods such as yangra (foxtail millet) and chera (little millet), driven by environmental degradation, symbolizes not just a loss of biodiversity but also the erosion of cultural memory and spiritual significance. Taste, a powerful connector of spiritual practices and ecological rhythms, now reflects the broader disintegration of cultural identities as imported and chemically-treated foods replace indigenous crops in Buddhist rituals. The research also examines how climate change is influencing the sensory symbolism (Classen, 2010) associated with sensory faculties in Bhutanese communities, reshaping how these societies ‘make sense’ of their changing interactions with nature. For instance, one of our respondents from the Dagor community in Pemagatshel informed us that the introduction of the new hybrid maize variety has not just significantly altered the taste of their staple diet, but also an idea of it.

Thus, this paper offers a sensory framework for understanding the Anthropocene, emphasizing how the ecological crisis is being mediated through human bodies, especially through the sense of taste. It then investigates how embodied experiences are translated through the cultural construction of sensory perception in Bhutan that conditions everyday experiences of the local communities at the fundamental level.