De gustibus non disputandum est… Decostruzione della soggettività e "giochi di ruolo" nell’esperienza etnica alimentare.

Taste is activated [...] in a subjective but also, immediately, inter-subjective dimension, as it seeks legitimacy through comparison and sharing (Perullo 2008). In relation to ethnic food, this statement becomes even more relevant, since complex dynamics of “translation” mediating between the taste of those preparing food and that of people who eat it intervene on the signs, texts and practices involved in the food experience. Through the analysis of two significant case studies this article aims at analysing the relationship between subjectivity and roles, as well as the dynamics of interpellation and the ritual forms which are typical of such translation processes. To what extent the subjectivity of the individual is subjected to processes of deconstruction that redefine it according to the roles presupposed by the ethnic experience? On the contrary, how can subjectivity emerge – deconstructing those same roles – without undermining the possibility of existence of such a translation?