Vina aperta and the Quest for Interconnectedness: Wine and an Eliasian Sociology of Food

This chapter makes the case for the Eliasian conceptualisation of human interconnectedness as a productive lens for the sociology of food. With specific attention to the juxtaposed concepts of homo clausus and homines aperti, the chapter focuses on the interrelated ways in which humans engage with fundamental problems of interdependence through the domain of food. The chapter examines these processes through the specific case of natural wine, drawing from qualitative, interview research with natural wine producers and intermediaries. A common disposition—a quest for interconnectedness—emerges from the interview data, which is characterized as a vitalist, reparative, figurational aesthetic. The analysis suggests that not only does this orientation make the cultural production of natural wine possible, but it also offers an exemplar of a more reality-congruent, ecologically sound collective self-image to address the habitus problems of homo clausus thinking.