Alice Giannitrapani, a cura, "Foodscapes. Cibo in città", Milano, Mimesis, 2021, pp. 280

Abstract

It’s happened to all of us. From Paris, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower eating macarons or a crêpe suzette; to Palermo, with a panelle sandwich on the seafront of the fishing village of Mondello; or in Amsterdam, strolling along the canals with a paper cone filled with French fries; all the way to Berlin, with a beer and a steaming pork knuckle at the tables of a traditional restaurant. Everywhere, food connects us to the places we visit, as it is commonly understood that exploring a city also means tasting the dishes that define it. This is, after all, the essence of food and wine tourism: street food tours, gourmet travel packages of all kinds, offered by agencies and travel websites, all assume a traveler interested precisely in traveling to eat—and eating to experience the journey itself. Yet it’s not only about tourism: the relationship between urban space and gastronomy is broader, encompassing all the ways in which the city becomes a stage for food consumption and culinary creation.