Saber y sabor: escritura y comida

Saber y sabor studies aspects of Iberian foodscapes from an ecocritical perspective. Food is one of the key and most evident components of our identity: who we are, where we live, where we come from. The food system is the repository of traditions and collective identity and an extraordinary vehicle for self-representation and cultural exchange. Umberto Eco said that when arriving in another country, before visiting museums or churches, it is important to wander, observe people, and then seek out local food: it is fundamental to understand the place and its unique way of thinking. This book, based on a theoretical reflection on key aspects of food studies, proposes an exploration of key cases representative of Iberian identity: narratives of exploration of proximity in a gastronomic key; the loss of colonies through gastronomic conflicts in Emilia Pardo Bazán; an inquiry into the fluid entity of the so-called paella in Manuel Vázquez Montalbán; and an incursion into various examples of gastronomic poetry, between food and affection, in poets like Josep Carner, Pablo Neruda, and Miguel Hernández.