Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Food Consumption and Food Activism in Italy

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Italians and Food

Part of the book series: Consumption and Public Life ((CUCO))

Abstract

This chapter examines the role of food consumption in food activism in Italy. Using data from ethnographic fieldwork in Florence (Tuscany) in the 1980s and Cagliari (Sardinia) in the 2010s, it ponders how three specific characteristics of Italian food consumption habits contribute to people’s willingness and ability to resist the agro-industrial food system: the centrality of commensality, the devotion to taste and sensory pleasure, and the commitment to local and seasonal foods. These provide strong motives for some people to practice food activism and pursue what the Slow Food movement calls “good, clean and fair food” through consumption choices. I consider the role of class in food activism and the possible limits of a middle-class activism that centers principally on changing consumer practices. By highlighting how activism emerges from Italian food culture, I also hope to advance understanding of Italianicity, which is grounded in and expressed through foodways.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Agyeman, J., & Alkon, A. H. (Eds.). (2011). Cultivating Food Justice: Race, Class, and Sustainability. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allen, P., FitzSimmons, M., Goodman, M., & Warner, K. (2003). Shifting Plates in the Agrifood Landscape: The Tectonics of Alternative Agrifood Initiatives in California. Journal of Rural Studies,19, 61–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrews, G. (2008). The Slow Food Story: Politics and Pleasure. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Angioni, G. (1974). Rapporti di produzione e cultura subalterna: Contadini in Sardegna. Cagliari: EDES.

    Google Scholar 

  • Black, R. E. (2012). Porta Palazzo: The Anthropology of an Italian Market. Foreword by Carlo Petrini. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brackett, R. A. H. (2011). Savoring Ideology: An Ethnography of Production and Consumption in Slow Food’s Italy (Dissertation). University of Iowa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bukowski, W. (2016). La danza delle mozzarelle: Slow Food, Eataly, Coop e la loro narrazione. Rome: Edizioni Alegre.

    Google Scholar 

  • Camporesi, P. (1980). Alimentazione, Folclore, Società. Parma: Pratiche Editrice.

    Google Scholar 

  • Capatti, A., & Montanari, M. (1999). La cucina italiana: storia di una cultura. Roma-Bari: Laterza.

    Google Scholar 

  • Capatti, A., De Bernardi, A., & Varni, A. (Eds.). (1998). Storia d’Italia: l’alimentazione (Annali 13). Torino: Einaudi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conti, P. C. (2008). La leggenda del buon cibo italiano e altri miti alimentari contemporanei. Lucca: Fazi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Counihan, C. (1981). Food, Culture, and Political Economy: Changing Lifestyles in the Sardinian Town of Bosa (Doctoral dissertation, Anthropology). University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

    Google Scholar 

  • Counihan, C. (1984). Bread as World: Food Habits and Social Relations in Modernizing Sardinia. Anthropological Quarterly, 57 (2), 47–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Counihan, C. (2004). Around the Tuscan Table: Food, Family and Gender in Twentieth Century Florence. New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Counihan, C. (2018). Taste Activism in Urban Sardinia, Italy. In C. Counihan & S. Højlund (Eds.), Making Taste Public: Ethnographies of Food and the Senses (pp. 155–167). Oxford: Bloomsbury.

    Google Scholar 

  • Counihan, C. (2019). Italian Food Activism in Urban Sardinia: Taste, Place, and Community. Oxford: Bloomsbury.

    Google Scholar 

  • Counihan, C., & Højlund, S. (Eds.). (2018). Making Taste Public: Ethnographies of Food and the Senses. Oxford, UK: Bloomsbury.

    Google Scholar 

  • Counihan, C., & Siniscalchi, V. (Eds.). (2014). Food Activism: Agency, Democracy, Economy. Oxford: Bloomsbury.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Certeau, M. (1984). The Practice of Everyday Life (S. Rendall, Trans.). Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Di Giovine, M. A. (2014). The Everyday as Extraordinary: Revitalization, Religion, and the Elevation of Cucina Casareccia to Heritage Cuisine in Pietrelcina, Italy. In R. Brulotte & M. A. Di Giovine (Eds.), Edible Identities: Exploring Food and Foodways as Cultural Heritage (pp. 77–92). Farnham: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischler, C. (2011). Commensality, Society and Culture. Social Science Information, 50(3–4), 528–548.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gallini, C. (1971). Il consumo del sacro: feste lunghe in Sardegna. Bari: Laterza.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grasseni, C. (2017). The Heritage Arena: Reinventing Cheese in the Italian Alps. New York: Berghahn.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grassivaro, F. (1991). Le multinazionali agricole. In Storia dell’agricoltura italiana in età contemporanea (Vol. 2, pp. 223–251, P. Bevilacqua, Ed.). Venezia: Marsilio.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guthman, J. (2003). Fast Food/Organic Food: Reflexive Tastes and the Making of ‘Yuppie Chow’. Social & Cultural Geography, 4(1), 45–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes-Conroy, A., & Hayes-Conroy, J. (2010). Visceral Difference: Variations in Feeling (Slow) Food. Environment and Planning A, 42, 2956–2971.

    Google Scholar 

  • Helstosky, C. F. (2004). Garlic and Oil: Politics of Food in Italy. New York, NY and Oxford: Berg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hilton, M. (2007). Social Activism in an Age of Consumption: The Organized Consumer Movement. Social History, 32(2), 121–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, P., Shears, P., Hillier, D., Comfort, D., & Lowell, J. (2003). Return to Traditional Values? A Case Study of Slow Food. British Food Journal,105, 297–304.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerner, S., Chou, C., Warmind, M. (Eds.). (2015). Commensality: From Everyday Food to Feast. Oxford: Bloomsbury.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lang, T. (1999). Food Policy for the 21st Century: Can It Be Both Radical and Reasonable? In M. Koc, R. MacRae, L. J. A. Mougeot, & J. Welsh (Eds.), For Hunger-Proof Cities: Sustainable Urban Food Systems (pp. 216–224). Ottawa: International Development Research Centre.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leitch, A. (2003). Slow Food and the Politics of Pork Fat: Italian Food and European Identity. Ethnos,68(4), 437–462.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miele, M., & Murdoch, J. (2002). The Practical Aesthetics of Traditional Products: Slow Food in Tuscany. Sociologia Ruralis, 42(4), 312–328.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montanari, M. (2013). Italian Identity in the Kitchen, or Food and the Nation. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ochs, E., Pontecorvo, C., & Fasulo, A. (1996). Socializing Taste. Ethnos, 61, 7–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parasecoli, F. (2003). Postrevolutionary Chowhounds: Food, Globalization, and the Italian Left. Gastronomica, 3(3), 29–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parasecoli, F. (2014). Al Dente: A History of Italian Food. London: Reaktion Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paxson, H. (2005). Slow Food in a Fat Society: Satisfying Ethical Appetites. Gastronomica, 5(1), 14–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peano, C., Migliorini, P., & Sottile, F. (2014). A Methodology for the Sustainability Assessment of Agri-Food Systems: An Application to the Slow Food Presidia Project. Ecology and Society, 19(4): 24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petrini, C. (2007). Slow Food Nation: Why Our Food Should Be Good, Clean, and Fair. New York: Rizzoli.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petrini, C., & Padovani, G. (2006). Slow Food Revolution: A New Culture for Eating and Living. New York: Rizzoli.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pink, S. (2008). Rethinking Contemporary Activism: From Community to Emplaced Sociality. Ethnos, 73(2), 163–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poster, M. (1992). The Question of Agency: Michel De Certeau and the History of Consumerism. Diacritics, 22(2), 94–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santini, A., Cavicchi, E., & Belletti, C. (2013). Preserving the Authenticity of Food and Wine Festivals: The Case of Italy. Il Capitale Culturale, 8, 251–271.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sassatelli, R. (2004). The Political Morality of Food. Discourses, Contestation and Alternative Consumption. In M. Harvey, A. McMeeckin, & A. Warde (Eds.), Qualities of Food. Alternative Theoretical and Empirical Approaches (pp. 176–191). Manchester: Manchester University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sassatelli, R., & Davolio, F. (2010). Consumption, Pleasure, and Politics: Slow Food and the Politico-Aesthetic Problematization of Food. Journal of Consumer Culture, 10(2), 1–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scarpellini, E. (2004). Shopping American Style: The Arrival of the Supermarket in Post-War Italy. Enterprise and Society, 5(4), 625–668.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Serventi, S., & Sabban, F. (2004). La pasta:Storia e cultura di un cibo universale. Bari: Laterza.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siniscalchi, V. (2012). Au delà de l’opposition slow-fast, l’économie morale d’un mouvement/al di là dell’opposizione slow-fast, l’economia morale di un movimento. Squaderno, 26, 67–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siniscalchi, V. (2013a). Environment, Regulation and the Moral Economy of Food in the Slow Food Movement. Journal of Political Ecology, 20, 295–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siniscalchi, V. (2013b). Pastori, attivisti e mercato. Pratiche economiche e logiche politiche nei presidi Slow Food. Voci, 10, 173–182.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siniscalchi, V. (2014a). La politique dans l’assiette. Restaurants et restaurateurs dans le mouvement Slow Food en Italie. Ethnologie française, 44(1), 73–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siniscalchi, V. (2014b). Slow Food Between Politics and Economy. In C. Counihan & V. Siniscalchi (Eds.), Food Activism: Agency, Democracy, Economy (pp. 225–241). Oxford: Bloomsbury.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siniscalchi, V. (2015). “Food Activism” en Europe: changer de pratiques, changer de paradigmes. Anthropology of Food,S11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siniscalchi, V. (2018). Political Taste: Inclusion and Exclusion in the Slow Food Movement. In C. Counihan & S. Højlund (Eds.), Making Taste Public: Ethnographies of Food and the Senses. Oxford: Bloomsbury.

    Google Scholar 

  • Teti, V. (1976). Il pane, la beffa e la festa: cultura alimentare e ideologia dell’alimentazione nelle classi subalterne. Firenze: Guaraldi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turrini, A., Saba, A., Perrone, D., Cialfa, E., & D’Amicis, A. (2001). Original Communication: Food Consumption Patterns in Italy: The INN-CA Study 1994–1996. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 55, 571–588.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Esterik, P. (2015). Commensal Circles and the Common Pot. In S. Kerner, C. Chou, & M. Warmind (Eds.), Commensality: From Everyday Food to Feast (pp. 31–42). Oxford: Bloomsbury.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Esterik, P. (2018). Taste, Socialization and Infancy. In C. Counihan & S. Højlund (Eds.), Making Taste Public: Ethnographies of Food and the Senses (pp. 11–24). Oxford: Bloomsbury.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vercelloni, L. (2001). Le abitudini alimentari in Italia dagli anni ottanta agli anni duemila. Sociologia del Lavoro, 83, 141–149.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weissman, E. (2015). Entrepreneurial Endeavors: (Re)producing Neoliberalization Through Urban Agriculture Youth Programming in Brooklyn, New York. Environmental Education Research, 21(3), 351–364.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Millersville University, Millersville, PA, USA

    Carole Counihan

Authors
  1. Carole Counihan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carole Counihan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Roberta Sassatelli

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Counihan, C. (2019). Food Consumption and Food Activism in Italy. In: Sassatelli, R. (eds) Italians and Food. Consumption and Public Life. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15681-7_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15681-7_5

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-15680-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-15681-7

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation