The Invention of Tradition. The Case of Pasta, A Symbol of Italian Identity / 传统的生成: 意大利面可以成为意大利民族认同的象征?

Local food is generally regarded by Italians as one of the most representative aspects of their national identity, a feeling that can sometimes lead to real forms of patriotic fervour, if not even open chauvinism. But if, on the one hand, the Italian gastronomic universe includes many regional and local components which are not reducible to a single tradition and to a few stereotyped dishes, on the other hand, Italians’ collective passion for their “own” cuisine makes reference to a well-defined and limited imaginarium which finds in pasta its most representative element. Why? How does pasta emerge as a Value-Object that can seduce the Subject (“Italians”), making them — as Roland Barthes (1977) would say — “fall in love” with their country? And what are the values with which this Object is invested? Focusing on advertising, which is both the mirror and generator of sociocultural values, and building on the semiotic analysis of some relevant case studies, this paper aims at pointing out how collective passions and representations are produced and enhanced by mass media and their discourses.