I feed therefore I am. Mothers, pasta, and advertisements

Motherhood has always been associated with feeding and nurturing. Common iconography features several representations of women harvesting, cooking, salting and drying various food products. The medieval handbook Tacuinum sanitatis (fourteenth century), for instance, depicts two women in the act of preparing pasta: one of them, with her head covered and an apron wrapping her hips, kneads the dough, while the other carefully places it on a staircase in order to dry it. Beyond the peculiarities of each representation, feeding and serving foods are some of the main functions generally associated with the female sphere. Several authors have explored this topic both in the scientific field and in the humanities. The following paragraphs will explore the role of motherhood in food advertising—representing both the mirror and the generator of present-day socio-cultural values—from a semiotic point of view, paying particular attention to pasta, which emblematically recalls home cooking in both Italy and abroad.