1st Edition

Around the Tuscan Table Food, Family, and Gender in Twentieth Century Florence

By Carole M. Counihan Copyright 2004
    262 Pages
    by Routledge

    262 Pages
    by Routledge

    In this delicious book, noted food scholar Carole M. Counihan presents a compelling and artfully told narrative about family and food in late 20th-century Florence. Based on solid research, Counihan examines how family, and especially gender have changed in Florence since the end of World War II to the present, giving us a portrait of the changing nature of modern life as exemplified through food and foodways.

    Preface Chapter 1 - Introduction: Food as Voice in Twentieth Century Florence Chapter 2 - Florentine Cuisine and Culture Chapter 3 - Historical Roots of Florentine Food, Family and Gender Chapter 4 - Florentine Diet and Culture Chapter 5 - Food Production, Reproduction, and Gender Chapter 6 - Balancing Gender Differences Chapter 7 - Commensality, Family, and Community Chapter 8 - Parents and Children: Feeding and the Reproduction of Gender Chapter 10 - Conclusion: Molto, Ma Buono? Bibliography Appendices A - Life Synopses of Informants B - Glossary of Italian terms C - List of all recipes collected D - Recipes

    Biography

    Carole M. Counihan is Professor of Anthropology and the Director of Women's Studies at Millersville University in Pennsylvania. She is currently the editor of Food and Foodways. She has authored and co-edited several books on the anthropology of food, including: Food in the U.S.A., Food and Culture, and The Anthropology of Food and Body (all published by Routledge).

    "A labor of love and mature scholarschip, Around the Tuscan Table is an eloquent chronicle of major social transformations. By giving voice to ordinary people, Counihan offers a bittersweet tale of how Florentines experienced the modern dietary transition from poverty to abundance." -- Warren Belasco, editor of Food Nations
    "Carole Counihan's remarkable portrait of an extended Florentine family reveals how food is inextricably embedded in all aspects of life. Part ethnography, part culinary biography, Around the Tuscan Table provides a realistic look at how Italians really eat, and how issues of globalization, women in the workforce, and changing social mores are altering Italian foodways." -- Amy Bentley, author of Eating For Victory
    "Around the Tuscan Table will be of value to scholars who hear the "food voice" in their own studies of gender and social change." -- David E. Sutton, Southern Illinois University, Journal of Anthropological Research