Food and taste - who are the best academic references for this field,
particularly on the philosophical side?

Your question immediately brings to mind Epicurus and Epicurean
philosophy, although it is not as much about food and taste as later
use of epicurianism might suggest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicureanism

Here you can find excerpts from his works and those of early writers:
http://www.epicurus.net/index.html

The book "Essen und Trinken" (in German) edited by Stephan Loos and
Holger Zaborowski ("to be published in 2006")
http://faculty.cua.edu/zaborowski/List%20of%20Publications.htm

is, according to the printed catalogue "New Publications 2006/2007"
(Verlag Karl Alber, Germany), to be published in 2007.

About this book (according to the catalogue, p. 13):
"This volume discusses different dimensions of eating and drinking,
reflects on religious backgrounds, traces developments in cultural
history and religious science, interrogates philosophical,
sociological and political aspects of eating and drinking and
illuminates this fundamental part of human life in literature and
art."

The website of the publisher (not quite up-to-date, currently):
http://www.verlag-alber.de/