Ensorceled food: navigating domestic social power and control in early modern Malta

Abstract

ABSTRACT Ensorceled Food: Social power and control in early modern Malta. If conviviality carries inherent meanings of power and control, then food activates those emotions that generate a reciprocal understanding between members of a family, a neighbourhood, and even an entire community. Consequently, food empowers individuals with the possibility of either exerting influence on, or resistance to, adverse situations. This study will provide an analysis of criminal proceedings of the tribunal of the Holy Office in early modern Malta. Inquisition cases involving love magic will form an integral part of this exploratory research. Some women ensorceled food in the hope of reversing the coercion imposed on them by their husbands. Conversely, the reaction of those who believed to have been fatturati [lit. bewitched] indicates how cursed food formed an integral part of the early modern mindset.