Project Description
Food has crucial importance within a city’s identity and tourism image. Moreover, food is one of the most important perspectives that can be used to analyse immigrant inclusivity in host societies. This research explores how the interplay of typical and ethnic foodways is related to discourses of place identity and immigrant inclusivity, using as a case study the city of Genoa, Italy. To do this, 19 in-depth semi-structured interviews have been conducted with typically Genoese restaurants, ethnic restaurants and international tourists. An interpretative social constructivist approach has been used to analyse the data, and the notion of foodscape has been used as an overarching framework containing locally situated practices related to foods and eating habits. The findings of this study show that foods are often used to consider broader socio-cultural dynamics, and that different views on ethnic foodways reflect broader issues of immigrant integration. Moreover, this research confirms that notions such as tradition, typicity and ethnicity are socially constructed and used in value-laden ways. The conclusions of this study underscore the need for further attention on the interrelation between food, immigration and tourism.
Author: F. Cambi (2019)
