Food and locality. Heritagization and commercial use of past

This paper reconstructs the birth and first development of food narratives build around the relationship between food and territory. These developed firstly in France between the 18th and 19th century becoming common throughout Europe since the early 20th century. Focussing on the Italian case within the European context, the paper highlights three main points: the ethnocentric character of the classification of regional cuisines during Fascism; the role of marketing in “inventing” territorial food identities; and the “nostalgic turn” in the commercial promotion of “genuine” foods. In its final remarks the paper asks for a deconstruction of any essentialisation of the food/territory relationship.