ABSTRACT

Cultural omnivorousness has gained relevance as a suitable theory to explain contemporary patterns of consumption, but the actual dealing of omnivorous taste by economic actors and businesses has been mostly overlooked. Through ethnographic research, this article explores how Italian gourmet food truck operators concretely produce claims of authenticity for omnivorous seekers. First, the adoption of the perspective of food truck operators highlights the reflexive and market-bounded nature of the omnivorous taste reproduction. Moreover, “being authentic” becomes an imperative for tastemakers, imposed by the economic imaginary. Finally, the centrality of regionalism in the Italian production of authenticity suggests that localism, too, has been subsumed by global food imaginaries and that regionalism expresses a cosmopolitan attitude. Taken together, these findings allow the integration of existing theory of food cultural omnivorousness: “gourmet” food must be authentic to be recognised by omnivores and distinctive to be successful on markets.

摘要

文化杂食性已成为一种合适的理论来解释当代的消费模式，但经济主体和企业对杂食味的实际处理却被人们忽略了。通过人种学研究，本文探讨了意大利美食卡车经营者如何具体地为杂食者提供真实性要求。首先，采用食品卡车操作员的观点突出了杂食性食品的再现性和市场约束性。此外，由于虚构的想象力，“成为货真价实”成为味觉制造者的当务之急。最后，区域主义在意大利真实性生产中的中心地位表明，全球食物假想也包含了局部主义，而区域主义则表达了一种国际化的态度。在一起