Italians and Food, edited by Roberta Sassatelli, Cham (Switzerland), Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, v + 279 pp., £79.99 (hardback), ISBN 978-3-030-15680-0

Italians and Food, edited by Roberta Sassatelli, Cham (Switzerland), Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, v + 279 pp., £79.99 (hardback), ISBN 978-3-030-15680-0

Italians and Food comprises nine chapters on the relevance of Italian food culture within national borders and in the global context. In her introduction, the editor provides an excellent theoretical framework to the understanding of ‘Italianicity’, Italian food practices and culture, in the global and national food contexts. All the chapters in the volume deal with particular aspects of this central topic.

The book opens with a very topical chapter by Fabio Parasecoli that addresses the reasons for the international popularity of Italian food in the contemporary world. Parasecoli looks at how tradition and authenticity have impacted on the transformation of the concept of Italian food from a symbol of immigrant destitution at the beginning of the twentieth century in America, to the sophisticated and desirable image it projects today. Tradition is seen in terms of a cultural dialogue between present and past, determined by the material cultures and practices of a social group; authenticity is associated with both artisan skills and simplicity. Tradition and authenticity have acquired crucial importance in the globalised world as a form of resistance to the ‘threat to local uniqueness’ (p. 22). For Parasecoli, the worldwide success of Italian cuisine is due to concomitant factors: the image of relaxed family life, sense of community and emotional connectedness have been coopted by media communication strategies which, both in Italy and the United States, have embraced the discourse of...