“A Torino non si muore di fame”. Riflessioni antropologiche su cibo e povertà estrema

Grounded in a longstanding action-research about homelessness and welfare system in Turin, the article analyses how public and private services tackle the issue of homeless’ food poverty. Drawing on the anthropological understanding of nutrition, it will be argued that traditional food supply chains for homeless people reduce food to the bare biological dimension, ignoring social, cultural, and psychological features. Afterward, the article describes how the action-research project “Costruire Bellezza” (CB), a permanent laboratory for homeless people, deals with the food issue. CB represents an interesting case-study where different responses to the nutrition challenge have been developed to take into consideration the multidimensional nature of eating. In the project, food is a core issue around which it is possible to create relationships, to develop capacities, and to exercise one’s own voice. The insights matured in CB contributes to promote a reflexive transformation of the wider system of services that produced the systemic program “Alimenta”.