TRA BARATTOLI, STOVIGLIE E CONSERVE. UN’INDAGINE MICROSOCIOLOGICA SULLA DISPENSA COME SPAZIO RELAZIONALE E IDENTITARIO

[Autom. eng. transl.] This contribution aims to highlight the relational dynamics between individuals and food, identifying the domestic space as a space for the manifestation of this relationship. The authors, in particular, starting from a visual research on the handouts, question themselves on the practices of personalizing food consumption styles, identifying patterns of continuity and discontinuity between different generations. In particular, the contribution questions the dynamics that define different consumption styles, especially considering the outcomes, within food appropriation practices, of a cultural hybridization due to the internationalization of products and food styles. To do this, the paper uses visual and textual materials produced by students of the Degree Course in Communication and Society (COMeS) of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in A. A. 2020/2021: part of the analyzed corpus was collected within the Material and Cultural Studies course, in the curriculum in Communication Management for Food and Fashion Industries (COMMA) which sees a large involvement of international students; a second part of material, however, was collected within the Cultural Production course attended by Italian students. In both cases, the classes were asked to photograph the domestic pantries of friends, relatives and roommates and to define, starting from visual analysis, the characteristics of the spaces in which food consumption practices take place in relation to the individual characteristics of the owners and the owners; the investigation made it possible to collect the images and stories of 168 expenses (55 as part of the international course, and 113 photographs and descriptions taken by Italian students). The aim of this work was to stimulate reflections on the meaning of material culture, especially food culture, in daily life, enhancing the ability of objects to narrate identities and lifestyles. The participation in the research experience by Italian and international students provides a singular portrait of how, from a generational and multicultural point of view, individuals define and redefine their own food practices, mixing different identities also linked to different places in which courses of life and action unfold. If the relationship with food and the definition of eating styles are influenced by cultural dynamics, the narratives that arise from the images and words of students provide the opportunity from a microsociological perspective to look inside domestic spaces, and to observe the practices of procurement, organization and consumption of food in relation to the work, family and spatial characteristics of individuals.