Various Concerns of Gastronomy is an interactive dinner performance conceived by Christopher Reynolds that explores the cyclical and complex relationship between food, mortality, and cultural practice. Inspired by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin’s seminal 1825 text The Physiology of Taste, specifically the chapter "Various Concerns of Gastronomy," the project presents a literal and symbolic investigation into the four stages of gastronomy outlined by Brillat-Savarin: early life, perfect growth, decomposition and death, and noxious-quality foods.

The performance was structured around a carefully curated multi-course menu, with each course thematically linked to one of the four stages. Through the sensory experience of dining, participants were invited to reflect on the transient nature of food, the human body, and cultural rituals surrounding consumption. Dishes were conceived not merely as nourishment but as narrative agents, guiding participants through the natural life cycle from growth to decay, and ultimately to toxicity and loss.

Emphasizing the performative and participatory dimensions of communal eating, Various Concerns of Gastronomytransformed the act of dining into a critical encounter with the poetics and politics of food. The constructed environment, from the setting to the presentation of dishes, drew attention to how food is both a biological necessity and a cultural artifact—subject to rituals of celebration, commodification, and taboo.

Reynolds' practice here operates at the intersection of gastronomy, performance, and historical inquiry, highlighting the body not just as a consumer but as a participant in broader cycles of growth, death, and rebirth. By inviting diners to traverse Brillat-Savarin’s taxonomy through embodied experience, Various Concerns of Gastronomy foregrounds food as a site of philosophical reflection, communal identity, and inevitable decline.