When food mobilizes emotions: Reaching foreign and domestic audiences

Abstract

This paper aims to explore food films and their symbolism. Food is a way of creating national identities, and enhancing the sense of belonging. It also evokes the concept of ‘nostalgia’ and has the capacity to mobilize strong emotions (Mintz 1996). The semiotic analysis of food underlines how the biosphere and the semiosphere intersect in various instances of human life (Danesi 2004). In cultural settings, food symbolizes substance and conveys different meanings. This research material will focus on the analysis of images (food, culinary preparations and different eating events) as portrayed in Tassos Boulmetis’s 2003 film Πολίτικη Κουζίνα/ A Touch of Spice, and the domestic and international trailers of the film. The analysis will be based on Lotman’s notion of the semiosphere.