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Eating the Other. a Semiotic Approach to the Translation of the Culinary Code

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Eating the Other. a Semiotic Approach to the Translation of the Culinary Code UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI TORINO (UNITO) UNIVERSITÀ DELLA SVIZZERA ITALIANA (USI) Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici (UNITO) / Faculty of Communication Sciences (USI) DOTTORATO DI RICERCA (IN CO-TUTELA) IN: Scienze del Linguaggio e della Comunicazione (UNITO) / Scienze della Comunicazione (USI) CICLO: XXVI (UNITO) TITOLO DELLA TESI: Eating the Other. A Semiotic Approach to the Translation of the Culinary Code TESI PRESENTATA DA: Simona Stano TUTORS: prof. Ugo Volli (UNITO) prof. Andrea Rocci (USI) prof. Marcel Danesi (UofT, Canada e USI, Svizzera) COORDINATORI DEL DOTTORATO: prof. Tullio Telmon (UNITO) prof. Michael Gilbert (USI) ANNI ACCADEMICI: 2011 – 2013 SETTORE SCIENTIFICO-DISCIPLINARE DI AFFERENZA: M-FIL/05 EATING THE OTHER A Semiotic Approach to the Translation of the Culinary Code A dissertation presented by Simona Stano Supervised by Prof. Ugo Volli (UNITO, Italy) Prof. Andrea Rocci (USI, Switzerland) Prof. Marcel Danesi (UofT, Canada and USI, Switzerland) Submitted to the Faculty of Communication Sciences Università della Svizzera Italiana Scuola di Dottorato in Studi Umanistici Università degli Studi di Torino (Co-tutorship of Thesis / Thèse en Co-tutelle) for the degree of Ph.D. in Communication Sciences (USI) Dottorato in Scienze del Linguaggio e della Comunicazione (UNITO) May, 2014 BOARD / MEMBRI DELLA GIURIA: Prof. Ugo Volli (UNITO, Italy) Prof. Andrea Rocci (USI, Switzerland) Prof. Marcel Danesi (UofT, Canada and USI, Switzerland) Prof. Gianfranco Marrone (UNIPA, Italy) PLACES OF THE RESEARCH / LUOGHI IN CUI SI È SVOLTA LA RICERCA: Italy (Turin) Switzerland (Lugano, Geneva, Zurich) Canada (Toronto) DEFENSE / DISCUSSIONE: Turin, May 8, 2014 / Torino, 8 maggio 2014 ABSTRACT [English] Eating the Other. A Semiotic Approach to the Translation of the Culinary Code Eating and food are often compared to language and communication: anthropologically speaking, food is undoubtedly the primary need. Nevertheless, as Roland Barthes (1961) defends, this need is highly structured, and it involves substances, practices, habits, and techniques of preparation and consumption that are part of a system of differences in signification. In this sense we can speak about a semiotics of food: far from simply coinciding with material needs or physiological and perceptive processes, nutrition concerns all the various activities, discourses, and images that surround and are associated with it (Pezzini 2006). Food is not only a substance for survival and nourishment, but is also part of a sign system as it is strictly involved in processes of signification and interpretation. Specifically, it can be conceived as a language expressing social structures and cultural systems (Lévi-Strauss 1967; Montanari 2006). As such, it is not only an instrument of cultural identity, but perhaps the first way to come into contact with different cultures (Montanari 2006). This has become particularly evident in contemporary societies, where the development of new technologies of communication and the advances in transportation have caused a process of international integration and crossing, enhancing the interchange and interdependence I of world views, products, economic activities, ideas, and other aspects of culture. Such hybridisation processes have increasingly affected food, causing the crossing and overlapping of different foodspheres. Migrations, travels, and communications unceasingly expose local food identities to food alterities, activating interesting processes of transformation and “translation” which continuously re-shape and re-define such identities and alterities. Ethnic food, moreover, has become a fundamental presence in western food cultures: from the several döner kebabs filling up the streets where we walk to the many sushi bars and the more and more present Eritrean, Senegalese, or Asiatic restaurants, the offer of the food of the Other in our societies is extremely wide and varied. Ethnic shops are increasing in number, and in many city markets the local products are increasingly complemented with spices, vegetables, and other foods required for the preparation of exotic dishes. This same phenomenon, furthermore, has progressively become popular even in the large retail: in North America and Europe, for example, recent decades have seen the growth of foreign foods on supermarket shelves, sometimes in sections specifically devoted to exotic food, and sometimes even next to the local and more common products. The aim of the present research is precisely to meditate on such phenomena, trying to decipher and analyse the processes of translation of the culinary code. What happens to foods and food-related habits, practices, and meanings when they are carried from a foodsphere to another one? What are the main aspects intervening in such dynamics? And how can semiotics help understanding such processes? Building on some specific case studies, chosen for their significance, we aim at addressing these issues particularly focusing on the spatial dimension and corporeality, which—despite being almost neglected by previous research in this field—play a crucial role in such dynamics. The inclusion of both a desk and a field analysis, moreover, reveals the intention of using the same research as a sort of testing ground for particular semiotic tools and perspectives, finally providing the reader with some epistemological remarks related to the role of semiotics within the field of food studies. Keywords: food, ethnic, semiotics, translation, culture II [Italian] Il cibo dell’Altro. Un approccio semiotico alla traduzione del codice alimentare Il cibo, e più in generale l’alimentazione, sono stati spesso paragonati al linguaggio e alla comunicazione: dal punto di vista antropologico, l’alimentazione costituisce senza dubbio uno dei primi fabbisogni dell’umanità. D’altra parte, come sostiene Roland Barthes (1961), tale necessità è altamente strutturata e coinvolge diverse sostanze, tecniche e usi, che entrano a far parte di un sistema di differenze significative. È in questo senso che è possibile parlare di una semiotica del cibo: lungi dal coincidere semplicemente con questioni di ordine fisiologico o percettivo, l’alimentazione è anche e soprattutto questione dei diversi comportamenti, discorsi e immagini che la avvolgono e la accompagnano (Pezzini 2006). Il cibo non è soltanto un insieme di sostanze utili e necessarie al sostentamento dell’organismo, ma un vero e proprio sistema di segni legato a particolari processi di significazione e interpretazione. In particolare, il codice alimentare può essere concepito come un linguaggio nel quale si traduce la struttura di una società, nonché come una sorta di “deposito” dell’identità personale e collettiva (Lévi-Strauss 1967; Montanari 2006). In quanto tale, il cibo non solo è strumento di identità culturale, ma il primo modo, forse, per entrare in contatto con culture diverse (Montanari 2006). Questo è particolarmente evidente nelle società contemporanee, dove lo sviluppo di nuove tecnologie di comunicazione e le innovazioni nel campo dei trasporti hanno causato una serie di sovrapposizioni e interdipendenze a livello economico, sociale, politico, tecnologico e culturale. Simili processi di ibridazione hanno coinvolto in misura sempre maggiore anche l’universo alimentare, causando l’incontro e lo scontro tra diverse sfere gastronomiche e culinarie. I flussi migratori, il turismo e i moderni sistemi di comunicazione espongono continuamente le identità alimentari locali a una serie di alterità legate a diversi sistemi alimentari, innescando III interessanti dinamiche di trasformazione e “traduzione” che ri-formano e ri-definiscono incessantemente simili identità e alterità. Il cibo etnico, inoltre, costituisce una presenza ormai ineludibile nell’attuale panorama alimentare delle società occidentali: dai numerosi döner kebab che popolano le strade in cui camminiamo ai molteplici sushi bar e ai sempre più presenti ristoranti eritrei, senegalesi o asiatici, l’offerta di cibo dell’Altro è estremamente vasta e variegata. Senza dimenticare i vari negozi etnici, in progressivo aumento, o i mercati cittadini, dove ai prodotti nostrani si affiancano sempre più sovente spezie, ortaggi e altri alimenti essenziali per la preparazione di molti piatti esotici. Questo stesso fenomeno, inoltre, è progressivamente diventato popolare anche nella grande distribuzione: in Nord America e in Europa, per esempio, gli ultimi decenni hanno portato a una sempre maggiore inclusione di cibi stranieri sugli scaffali dei supermercati, talvolta in sezioni specificamente dedicate al cibo etnico, talaltra accanto ai più comuni prodotti locali. La presente ricerca intende riflettere su simili fenomeni, cercando di decifrare e analizzare i processi di traduzione del codice alimentare. Cosa succede al cibo, ma anche agli usi, le pratiche e i significati a esso associati, quando vengono trasportati da un universo alimentare a un altro? Quali sono gli aspetti principali che intervengono in simili dinamiche? E come può la semiotica intervenire nell’analisi e nella comprensione di tali processi? In base all’analisi di alcuni casi di studio, selezionati per la loro significatività, ci si propone di affrontare simili questioni rivolgendo particolare attenzione alla dimensione spaziale e alla corporeità – che, pur essendo state largamente trascurate dagli studi realizzati in tale ambito, giocano un ruolo fondamentale in queste dinamiche. Infine, l’inclusione di un’analisi di tipo field oltre che desk rivela l’intenzione di utilizzare la
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