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

Renowned food scholar Carole Counihan serves up a delicious narrative about family and food in twentieth-century Florence. By looking at how family, and especially gender relations, have changed in Florence since the ending of World War II and continuing on to an examination of current food practices today,Around the Tuscan Tableoffers a portrait of the changing nature of modern life as exemplified through food. How food is produced, distributed, and consumed speaks volumes about a given culture, and this compelling and artfully narrated book aims to preserve, propagate, and interpret Florentines' world-renowned cuisine and culture. At the market, in the kitchen, and around the table, Counihan gives readers a taste of everyday life in this region of Italy: how eating together unites the family; how the production of food is gendered; how food is a key tool of socialization, and how culture forms aesthetic tastes. With more than 20 illustrations and age-old family recipes, this is atreat for the senses and the intellect.

Carole M. Counihan is Professor of Anthropology at Millersville University in Pennsylvania