Taste is a word for how we measure culture and judge our relationship to it. If something suits our taste, we feel close to it and identify with it, as well as form relationships with other people based on it, the way customers commune over clothing labels (either loving or hating a particular brand). Intentionally bad taste might be just as compelling as good taste, as the author Rax King described in her book Tacky: “Tackiness is joyfulness.” But in its origins, taste is a much deeper philosophical concept. It borders on morality, representing an innate sense of what is good in the world.
