Home Lost in translation: Food, identity and otherness
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Lost in translation: Food, identity and otherness

  • Simona Stano EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: May 12, 2016

Abstract

Food preferences and taboos, by revealing our taste, express our identity. Moreover, in present-day globalized societies, the crossing and overlapping among different foodspheres incessantly relates identity to otherness. It becomes therefore essential to consider and investigate the links existing between the signs, texts, discourses, and practices concerning the food universe, on the one hand, and the processes of construction and expression of sociocultural identity – or, better, identities – on the other hand. This paper deals with a specific case study: sushi and its Western variations. Ranging from the material level to a semiotic description, we aim at analyzing the processes of “translation” to which sushi is subjected when it becomes “ethnic” or “fusion” food.

References

Albrow, Martin & Elizabeth King. 1990. Globalization, knowledge, and society: Readings from International sociology. London: Sage.Search in Google Scholar

Al-Rodhan, Nayef R. & F. Gérard Stoudmann. 2006. Pillars of globalization. Geneva: Slatkine.Search in Google Scholar

Anderson, Myrdene. 1999–2000. Ethnography as translation. Athanor 10(2). 181–187.10.1163/9789004490093_024Search in Google Scholar

Ashkenazi, Michael & Jeanne Jacob. 2000. The essence of Japanese Cuisine: An essay on food and culture. Baltimore: University of Pennsylvania Press.Search in Google Scholar

Augé, Marc. 1994. Le Sens des autres: Actualité de l’anthropologie. Paris: Fayard.Search in Google Scholar

Bachelard, Gaston. 1948. La terre et les rêveries du repas. Paris: J. Corti.Search in Google Scholar

Barber, Kimiko. 2002. Sushi: Taste and technique. London: DK.Search in Google Scholar

Barthes, Roland. 1997 [1961]. Toward a psychosociology of contemporary food consumption. In C. Counihan & P. Van Esteric (eds.), Food and culture: A reader, 20–27. New York & London: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar

Barthes, Roland. 1970. L’Empire des signes. Paris: Skira.Search in Google Scholar

Beardsworth, Alan D. 1990. Trans-science and moral panics: Understanding food scares. British Food Journal 92(5). 11–16.10.1108/00070709010135223Search in Google Scholar

Beardsworth, Alan D. 1995. The management of food ambivalence: Erosion or reconstruction? In D. Maurer & J. Sobal (eds.), Eating agendas: Food and nutrition as social problems, 117–142. New York: A. de Gruyter.Search in Google Scholar

Berman, Antoine. 1984. L’Épreuve de l‘étranger: Culture et traduction dans l’Allemagne romantique. Paris: Gallimard.Search in Google Scholar

Bettini, Maurizio. 2012. Vertere: Un’antropologia della traduzione nella cultura antica. Turin: Einaudi.Search in Google Scholar

Brisset, Annie. 2000. Tradurre il senso degli altri: teorie e pratiche. Athanor 11(3). 55–79.Search in Google Scholar

Ceriani, Giulia. 2004. Contaminazione e fusione nella tendenza contemporanea: Da modalità interoggettive a forme di vita. EC. http://www.ec-aiss.it/index_d.php?recordID=100 (accessed 23 December 2014).Search in Google Scholar

Courtés, Joseph. 1976. Introduction à la semiotique narrative et discursive. Paris: Hachette.Search in Google Scholar

Dekura, Hideo, Brigid Treloar & Ryuichi Yoshii. 2004. The complete book of sushi. Singapore: Periplus Ed.Search in Google Scholar

Detrick, Mia. 1981. Sushi. San Francisco: Chronicle.Search in Google Scholar

Dryden, John. 1913 [1680]. The preface to Ovid’s Epistles. In John Sargeaunt (ed.), The poems of John Dryden. London & New York: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Eco, Umberto. 1997. Kant e l’ornitorinco. Milan: Bompiani.Search in Google Scholar

Eco, Umberto. 2003. Dire quasi la stessa cosa. Milan: Bompiani.Search in Google Scholar

Ekiguchi, Kunio. 1986. Gift wrapping: Creative ideas from Japan. Tokyo: Kondansha International.Search in Google Scholar

Fabbri, Paolo. 1998. La svolta semiotica. Rome & Bari: Laterza.Search in Google Scholar

Fischler, Claude. 1988. Food, self, and identity. Social Science Information 27(2). 275–292.10.1177/053901888027002005Search in Google Scholar

Fischler, Claude. 1990. L’Homnivore. Paris: Odil Jacob.Search in Google Scholar

Floch, Jean-Marie. 1986. Lettre aux sémioticiens de la terre ferme. Actes sémiotiques (Le Bulletin) IX(37). 7–14Search in Google Scholar

Floch, Jean-Marie. 1990. Sémiotique, marketing et communication. Sous les signes, les strategies. Paris: PUF [English Translation 2001. Semiotics, Marketing and Communication: Beneath the Signs, the Strategies, New York: Palgrave MacMillan]Search in Google Scholar

Floch, Jean-Marie. 2006. Bricolage. Rome: MeltemiSearch in Google Scholar

Gelb, David. 2011. Jiro Dreams of Sushi. USA: Magnolia PicturesSearch in Google Scholar

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. 1819. West-östlicher Divan. Stuttgard: Cotta.Search in Google Scholar

Greco Morasso, Sara & Tania Zittoun. 2014. The trajectory of food as a symbolic resource for international migrants. Outlines 15(1). 28–48.10.7146/ocps.v15i1.15828Search in Google Scholar

Greimas, Algirdas Julien. 1973. Un problème de sémiotique narrative: Les objets de valeur. Langages 31(8). 13–35.10.3406/lgge.1973.2233Search in Google Scholar

Greimas, Algirdas Julien. 1976. Maupassant. La sémiotique du texte: exercises pratiques. Paris: Seuil [English Translation 1988. Maupassant. The Semiotics of Text: Practical Exercises. Amsterdam–Philadelphia: J. Benjamins Pub. Co.]Search in Google Scholar

Heidegger, Martin. 1927. Sein und Zeit. In M. Heidegger (ed.), Jahrbuch fur Philosophie und phenomenologische Forschung, 1–438. VIII. Halle: Niemeyer.Search in Google Scholar

Hendry, Joy. 1995 [1993]. Wrapping culture: Politeness, presentation, and power in Japan and other societies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Hjelmslev, Louis. 1943. Omkring sprogteoriens grundlæggelse. Copenhagen: Ejnar Munksgaard.Search in Google Scholar

Hobsbawm, Eric & Terence Ranger. 1983. The invention of tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Hosking, Richard. 1995. A dictionary of Japanese food: Ingredients & culture. Tokyo: Tuttle.Search in Google Scholar

Humphrey, Lawrence. 1559. Interpretatio Linguarum: Seu De Ratione Convertendi & explicandi autores tam sacros quam prophanos. Basle: H. Frobenius & N. Episcopius.Search in Google Scholar

Itou, K., S. Kobayashi, T. Ooizumi & Y. Akahane. 2006. Changes of proximate composition and extractive components in narezushi, a fermented mackerel product, during processing. Fisheries Science 72(6). 1269–1276.10.1111/j.1444-2906.2006.01285.xSearch in Google Scholar

Kasparek, Cristopher. 1983. The Translator’s Endless Toil. The Polish Review XXVIII(2). 83–87.Search in Google Scholar

La Cecla, Franco. 1997. Il malinteso. Rome & Bari: Laterza.Search in Google Scholar

Landowski, Eric. 1997. Présence de l’autre. Essais de socio-sémiotique II. Paris: PUFSearch in Google Scholar

Lévi-Strauss, Claude. 1962. Le totémisme aujourd’hui. Paris: PUF [English Translation 1963. Totemism. Boston: Beacon press]Search in Google Scholar

Lévi-Strauss, Claude. 1964. Mythologiques I. Le cru et le cuit. Paris: PlonSearch in Google Scholar

Lévi-Strauss, Claude. 1965. Le triangle culinaire. L’Arc 26. 19–29.Search in Google Scholar

Lotman, Jurij Michajlovič. 1992. Kul’tura i vzryv. Moscow: Gnozis.Search in Google Scholar

Lowry, Dave. 2005. The connoisseur’s guide to sushi: Everything you need to know about sushi. Boston: Harvard Common Press.Search in Google Scholar

Marrone, Gianfranco. 2005. La Cura Ludovico. Turin: Einaudi.Search in Google Scholar

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (MOFA). 2012. Niponica – Delicious Japan 8. Tokyo: MOFA.Search in Google Scholar

Montanari, Massimo. 2006. Food is culture. New York: Columbia University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Mounin, Georges. 1963. Les problèmes théoriques de la traduction. Paris: Gallimard.Search in Google Scholar

Mouritsen, Ole G. 2009. Sushi: Food for the eye, the body & the soul. New York: Springer.10.1007/978-1-4419-0618-2Search in Google Scholar

Nida, Eugene A. & Charles Taber. 1969. The theory and practice of translation. Leiden: Brill.Search in Google Scholar

Perullo, Nicola. 2008. L’altro gusto. Saggi di estetica gastronomica. Pisa: ETSSearch in Google Scholar

Petrilli, Susan (ed.). 1999–2000. La traduzione. Athanor 10(2). Rome: Meltemi.Search in Google Scholar

Petrilli, Susan. (ed.). 2000. Tra segni. Athanor 11(3). Rome: Meltemi.Search in Google Scholar

Petrilli, Susan. (ed.). 2001. Lo stesso altro. Athanor 12(4). Rome: Meltemi.Search in Google Scholar

Pezzini, Isabella. 2006. Fluidi vitali: dalla bile nera allo champagne. Note sull’immaginario alcolico-passionale. In P. Bertetti, G. Manetti and A. Prato (eds.), Semiofood. Comunicazione e cultura del cibo, 149–158. Centro Scientifico Editore: TurinSearch in Google Scholar

Ponzio, Augusto. 1999–2000. Presentazione/presentation. Athanor 10(2). 5–7.Search in Google Scholar

Ponzio, Augusto. 2001. Presentazione/presentation. Athanor 12(4). 5–6.Search in Google Scholar

Rozin, Paul. 1976. The selection of food by rats, humans, and other animals. In Jay Rossenblat, Robert A. Hinde, Evelyn Shaw, & Colin Beer (eds.), Advances in study of behaviour, vol. 6, 21–76. New York: Academic Press.10.1016/S0065-3454(08)60081-9Search in Google Scholar

Schleiermacher, Friedrich. 1838. Über die verschiedenen Methoden des Übersetzens [Lecture delivered in 1813]. In F. Schleiermacher (ed.), Sämtliche Werke, vol. 2, 207–245. Berlin: Reimer.Search in Google Scholar

Snell-Hornby, Mary. 1988. Translation studies: An integrated approach. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.10.1075/z.38Search in Google Scholar

Stano, Simona. 2012. Siamo noi questo piatto di grano … L’immaginario gastronomico italiano tra seduzione e incontro amoroso. E|C 6(11–12). 70–75.Search in Google Scholar

Stano, Simona. 2014. The invention of tradition: The case of pasta, one of the symbols of Italian identity. Signs & Media 8. 136–152.Search in Google Scholar

Stano, Simona. 2015a. Eating the other: Translations of the culinary code. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.Search in Google Scholar

Stano, Simona (ed.). 2015b. Cibo e identità culturale / food and cultural identity. Lexia 19–20. Rome: Aracne.Search in Google Scholar

Steiner, George. 1975. After Babel: Aspects of language and translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Zschock, D. 2005. The little black book of sushi: The essential guide to the world of sushi. New York: Peter Pauper.Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2016-5-12
Published in Print: 2016-7-1

©2016 by De Gruyter Mouton

Downloaded on 17.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/sem-2016-0100/html
Scroll to top button