Food and Women in Italian Literature, Culture and Society

Download or read book Food and Women in Italian Literature, Culture and Society written by Claudia Bernardi and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-11-12 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores how women's relationship with food has been represented in Italian literature, cinema, scientific writings and other forms of cultural expression from the 19th century to the present. Italian women have often been portrayed cooking and serving meals to others, while denying themselves the pleasure of the table. The collection presents a comprehensive understanding of the symbolic meanings associated with food and of the way these intersect with Italian women's socio-cultural history and the feminist movement. From case studies on Sophia Loren and Elena Ferrante, to analyses of cookbooks by Italian chefs, each chapter examines the unique contribution Italian culture has made to perceiving and portraying women in a specific relation to food, addressing issues of gender, identity and politics of the body.