National culinary capital how the state and tv shape the 'taste of the nation' to create distinction
Citation
Buscemi, F. (2014) National culinary capital how the state and tv shape the 'taste of the nation' to create distinction, no. 344.
Abstract
This interdisciplinary thesis breaks new ground in the fields of food and media
studies, in the specific areas of culinary capital and food TV. On food studies, this
thesis theorises that the state plays the role of meta-tastemaker, legitimising some
foods as a source of social distinction in order to support national ideologies and
beliefs. The social prestige that citizens accumulate thanks to these foods is what this
thesis defines as national culinary capital.
On media studies, this thesis analyses how national culinary capital is represented on
television, and how the media and the nation negotiate it. Only by merging the two
disciplines has this thesis been able to catch the sense of the complex power
relationships between the nation and the media.
Through the analysis of two national TV food travelogues, the Italian Ti Ci Porto Io
and the British Jamie's Great Britain, this work draws on Bourdieu's concepts of
statist and cultural capital, and on Naccarato and LeBesco's theorisation of culinary
capital. Cultural studies views of national culture and television, and theories on
nation-building contribute to the theoretical framework.
Methodologically, this study applies political economy and Bourdieu's field analysis
to Italian and British TV and food TV, and to the broadcasters and production
companies of the shows. In addition, moving image and semiotic analysis of the
travelogues clarify how the two shows represent national culinary capital. An
interview with the Italian producer, and a failed interview with the British one shed
further light on the national ideologies represented by the shows and linked to food.
The results show how, in the two countries, national culinary capital supports
different ideologies with similar aims. Moreover, while in Italy the state exerts its
power over the media in a stronger way, in Britain the media prove to be powerful
enough to shape an independent form of national culinary capital, embodied by the
media invention of the celebrity chef.