Overview

This book is an ethnography of the metamorphosis of rural foods and traditional dishes and of the making of cuisine and identity in contemporary Athens. In the wake of the financial crisis in Athens in the mid-2015s, forgotten rural foods of the past are transformed into luxurious artisanal foods, while traditional dishes appear reinvented in fine-dining restaurants, after decades of darkness. How, and why is this all happening in a city of poverty, hardship and economic crisis? Through sensory descriptions and thick ethnographic material, it follows the Athenian affluent middle class in upscale delis and goes inside fine-dining restaurant kitchens, discussing the complex combination of cuisine, tradition, memory and identity, revealing the cultural logic and social aspects of cuisine. It demonstrates how cuisine emerges from very different, often contradictory social spaces, not only as an intellectual and aesthetic endeavour of chefs or as a revival of foods and foodways that link the country and the city, but also as interlinked with embodied memories and embedded in social relations and commensality. This book will be of great interest to scholars and students in Anthropology and Food Studies.

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9781032341811

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Reviews

Richly described and trenchantly theorized, The Metamorphosis of Greek Cuisine rewards the reader interested in understanding contemporary Greece in crisis through the lens of food and the senses. Papacharalambou's thick description of Athenian restaurants and delicatessens pays off in providing a sense of some of the key cultural currents as Greeks struggle with the centrality of rural identity and sociability to their contemporary lives. Written in a clear style that makes it accessible to students and scholars alike, it makes for an important addition to our understanding of the centrality of food in everyday life and at moments of crisis. David Sutton, Professor of Anthropology, Southern Illinois University.

Author Information

Nafsika Papacharalampous is a food anthropologist and chef. For the last decade she has been researching Greek cuisine, traditional foods, restaurants and markets, focusing on identity, memory, the senses and cultural heritage. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the SOAS Food Studies Centre. Nafsika is also a chef and consultant for artisan food companies, restaurants, museums and food organisations, and the curator of culinary experiences around Greek food. She holds an MA and a PhD in the Anthropology of Food from SOAS, University of London, and an MBA from the Athens University of Economics and Business.

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