Food and Women in Italian Literature, Culture and Society: Eve’s Sinful Bite

Description

This volume explores how womens' relationships with food have been represented in Italian literature, theater, film, advertising, visual arts and other forms of cultural expression from the nineteenth century to the present. Contributions offer a close reading of the symbolic meanings associated with food and of the way these intersect with Italian women’s socio-cultural history and the feminist movement, addressing issues of gender, identity and politics of the body. With case studies that look at Sophia Loren to an analysis of women and food in Italian chef's cookbooks, the collection presents a comprehensive understanding of the unique contribution Italian culture has made to perceiving and portraying women in a specific relation to food. Looking at how Italian women have been portrayed cooking and serving meals to others, while denying themselves the pleasure of the table, these essays help us understand the role food and food-related-activities have in women’s lives. Title Page Copyright Page Contents Contributors Introduction Part I: Gender and social norms in food writings Chapter 1: She is not selfish enough to analyse and favour these sensual pleasures: The role of women in nineteenth-century Italian taste Chapter 2: Marcella cucina: Marcella Hazan and the gendered authority of the Italian cookbook Chapter 3: Domestic labour, everyday pleasure and perspective in Simonetta Agnello Hornby’s culinary memoirs Un filo d’olio and Il pranzo di Mosè Part II: Food, womanhood and the Italian south Chapter 4: Food, adultery and the pursuit of the modern in Matilde Serao’s La virtù di Checchina Chapter 5: Spiritual sustenance: Naples’ soul food in the narrative language of Matilde Serao and Elena Ferrante Chapter 6: Eros and Thanatos meet in the southern kitchens of Italy: Castaldi, Ferrante and Torregrossa Chapter 7: The ‘greedy southern woman’ as a national Italian cliché: A preliminary proposal Part III: Food, gender and Italian identity Chapter 8: From pizzaiola to phenom: Viewing Sophia Loren through food Chapter 9: Women’s eccentric and nomadic cooking in Fabrizia Ramondino’s Althénopis: When food tastes good and subversive Chapter 10: Feeding the body, feeding the language: Nourishment as a metaphor of writing in Igiaba Scego’s literary works Part IV: Food, family and politics Chapter 11: Writing food Issues of female identity and gender politics in Dacia Maraini’s novels Chapter 12: Around the table: Gender and generational conflict in Clara Sereni’s autobiographical writing Chapter 13: Beyond size and weight Gianna Schelotto’s ‘La ragazza che mangiava la luna’ Chapter 14: Happy hours: Food, politics and female friendship in Silvia Ballestra’s Amiche mie Notes Bibliography Index