Ethnogastronomy and storytelling: a perfect match

 

Food is the best storyteller of places, as its history is an excellent means of communicating the genius loci, i.e., the place's spirit. How can we set up the most effective and experiential ethnogastronomy narrative? Learn about the Rolli Experience best practice in Genoa, the capital city of Liguria – a.k.a. the Italian Riviera – boasting grand culinary and cultural heritage.

What makes the Italian cultural heritage unique?

I was asked this stimulating question during a conference promoted by the City of Genoa on the occasion of the World Tourism Event held in Genoa to showcase UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Is there a univocal answer? I do not think so. Our heritage is unique due to a mix of elements: capillarity, continuity and connection between museums and the cultural fabric woven around them: historic centres, churches, palaces, monuments, rural villages and ancient roads, to cite a few. Let us thread one step further. Culinary culture and history should feature within this framework. Not accidentally, cuisine and food belong to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

What is ethnogastronomy?

The history of food is an excellent means of communicating the genius loci, the spirit of the place (food is the best storyteller of places).

Ethnogastronomy, a field in which I have been working for several years, originates from the focus of some historians (think of Bloch's and Febvre's 'Annales') on micro-history and the economies of communities. As a Ligurian, this means the Mediterranean, fishing traditions, trading routes, ports, vegetable gardens, and dry-stone terraces.

 

Liguria, a cradle of cultural, geographical and culinary biodiversity

Liguria is a land of itineraries, ports, exchanges, sciamadde eateries, mountain passes and salt routes: this kaleidoscope of culinary excellence and traditions includes basil pesto. Please note that Ligurian cuisine has never been and will never be just pesto. Long live pesto, but Ligurian cuisine has so much more to boast.
Coasts and hills show how cultural (and culinary) biodiversity derives from orographic biodiversity. Drive a few kilometres from the Riviera to the entroterra through vertical dry-stone walls (belonging to UNESCO World Heritage List) and terraces and experience a variety of elevations, essences, agricultural landscapes, and an Alpine cuisine that will beam you up to shepherds' pastures.

Genius loci and destination marketing

I have tackled the issue of genius loci several times – do browse Are you experienced? Pursuing authenticity and novelty in food tourism for more details. Genius loci (i.e., the spirit of the place) represents its prevailing character or atmosphere. Travel through time and skip from ancient Roman savvy to modern 'Unique Selling Proposition', a pivot of destination marketing. It is a matter of personality, as it is up to the terroir to differentiate itself, promote local identity and take in nature and heritage: environment, landscape, history, culture, traditions, gastronomy. The challenge of food tourism destinations implies a mindset change from territory to culinary landscape.

Genoa, a case history in food tourism

Genoa has all it takes to claim proper positioning as a Mediterranean food capital (and destination). City of contrasts, Mediterranean crossroads of history, trades, routes, cultures and food: this is the genius loci of Genoa (read my post on the thousand souls of Genoa). The early Medieval saying Ianuensis, ergo mercator (a Genoese, therefore a merchant) does act as an excellent marketing claim.

In Genoa, culinary heritage meets history, economy and everyday life. Food markets (e.g., 19th-century Mercato Orientale) bustle with life, goods, colours and scents. The grand spaces of the Palazzi dei Rolli, the 16th-17th-century dwellings owned by the Genoese seafaring gentry, gained UNESCO Heritage Site status in 2006.

Rolli Experience: the taste of history

At the end of 2023, the Municipality of Genoa launched the Rolli Experience project to showcase the city's cultural and culinary heritage. Through ethnogastronomy, the Rolli Experience initiative can reveal the taste of history, making diachronies (history) multi-sensorial. This project, where I collaborate with the Municipality of Genoa, represents a perfect symbiosis between historical housing and food. It also underlines the theme of welcoming guests, which was so central to the Rolli, the ancient registers in which dwellings of various charms received dignitaries visiting Genoa.

Storytelling for Ethnogastronomy: Web, Social, Translations (and more)

Ethnogastronomy storytelling must also become a shared asset across the tourism industry, as the nature of successful storytelling is experiential. Storytelling should also feature on both the web and social media, with high-quality translations to reach foreign audiences (cross-cultural focus).

Storytelling for ethnogastronomy, promoting culinary traditions

As for gastronomic content, we should focus on significant certifications, i.e., PDOs (Protected Designations of Origin) and PGIs (Protected Geographical Indications), the only labels - in the maze of acronyms that often confuse gourmets - whose reputation is widely known and appreciated at the European level.

Finally, the keyword for the narrative of ethnogastronomy should be cross-fertilisation of knowledge: a discipline that, unfortunately, is seldom practised by most experts. Leave your Hortus conclusus (i.e., secluded garden) and turn to multi-disciplinarity, interacting with new knowledge: this is essential to preserve the territory's heritage - authentic traditions vs passing trends.

Luisa Puppo