Introduction: Food, Foodways and Italianicity

Abstract

Food is perceived as probably the most distinctive aspect of Italian identity both in Italy and abroad. Food culture is central both to the way Italians mark their national identity and to the consolidation of Italianicity in a global context. However, gastronomic identity, just like other aspects of identity, is a continuous construction that consolidates through practice across history and geography rather than an essence to be discovered in a purified moment of origin, a well-delimited site, a single product or recipe. Creolization and hybridization are indeed a feature of any cuisine. This is particularly the case for Italian cuisine, exposed as it has been to a variety of influences. Italianicity thereby appears as a contested terrain continuously re-framed in the cultural circuit of food, an everchanging myth made real in countless, multifaced practices of doing and saying.