Plato's kitchen

I am (re)reading "From Socrates to Sartre: the philosophic quest". In my humble opinion it is the most readable introduction to philosophy I ever came across. Why am I reading it? To start with, I want to make sure I really understand the work of major philosophers before I dive into modern philosophy :) (I admit that the argument is kind of circular). But even more, I want to make sure I really understand Aristotle before I venture into reading a book I set my eyes on many years ago: "The Name of the Rose." Is it necessary to know Aristotle inside out before you read it? I guess not, but given that the story is set in a medieval monastery in western Europe, I would expect to find many arguments based on scholastic philosophy and Aristotle. Hence, my effort.

I have to admit that the aforementioned book does not focus on Aristotle as much as I would like. Sigh. But it does focus on Plato. Skimming through the pages of the book, I ran into Plato's theory of justice. Plato was a prolific and charming writer and a lot of his works made it to our day. You might be familiar with his work on knowledge, i.e., his theory of forms (or ideas). For example,  in another existential level there is the idea of the perfect horse and all horses on Earth are just imperfect copies of it. (was he trying to say that Jolly Jumper is not perfect? No way.) Same thing for apples, trees, etc. A weird theory overall but still cute. If you move to his theory on politics there it gets creepy (yes, I mean the part with the kids should be raised by the state after the age of 6.)

Anyway. What is justice according to Plato? When is it achieved? The question is discussed in Plato's book "The Republic." In this book, written in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and a bunch of other Athenians during a banquet, Socrates goes on demolishing the opinions of other participants before offering his own. The one that deserves to focus on here is offered by a merchant, Cephalus, who says bluntly "justice is paying your debts." To make a long story short, Plato finally argues that the soul has reached "justice" when the constituent parts forming it are in the right analogy. What are these elements? Logical reasoning ("λογιστικό"), mood ("θυμοειδές") and desires ("βουλητικό"). Note, that you can extend and apply this definition from, e.g., a society (people, authorities, government make up the ideal society according to Plato), to a family (kids, parents) down to ... food. Mmmm yummy.

What is the right analogy? Plato does not say much about that, but to be sure as far as societies are concerned he favors a very centralized system, hence he got a bad reputation of being rather totalitarian. Being totalitarian is something that most "normal" people verbally condemn but I have a sneaky feeling that secretly have a lot of tolerance, if not support, for it. You do not believe me? What about the management style of the late Steve Jobs? It was hailed as the secret sauce behind the success and aesthetics of the Apple products. But I digress.

Fast forward 2300 years to my late aunt Irene's kitchen where her husband, my also late uncle Paul, was tasting her food. He would unfailingly comment whether some ingredient was "according to its justice" meaning in the right analogy. A rather annoying habit that used to drive my late aunt furious. Could this be a remnant of Platonic thought in our language? Or was it just because my uncle was an educated man? I think the former. Great ideas tend to stick around. Even in different forms (no pun to Plato's theory.)

Speaking of forms I once semi-seriously argued that Plato's influence on modern Greek kitchen does not stop there. It is no secret that Plato had a great admiration for geometry. In the entrance of his school, the "Academy", there was a sign warning "let no one who does not know geometry enter".
Looking around the dishes found in the world which ones stand out as the ones with a most clear geometric cylinder-like form? You got it, "gyros" and "pita-gyros"!  It comes as no surprise that googling "Plato restaurant" returns enough results although I fear most restaurateurs will side with Cephalus' view on justice. Well deserved!