Handbook of Transcultural Nutrition

Morrone A., Scardella P., Piombo L.
Manuale di Alimentazione Transculturale
(Handobook of Transcultural Nutrition)
Gruppo Editoriale Editeam
March 2010

Presentation of the book

This book aims at spreading the knowledge of food habits and related themes in different cultures from a biological, anthropological and cultural point of view.
Transcultural nutrition is today a major issue in Italy as well as in many Western Countries, which needs to be further analysed and studied through a multidisciplinary approach involving doctors, biologists, anthropologists, psychologists, teachers and all those professionals working with food education and with the assistance of migrant people.
Whatever the reason may be for abandoning one's homeland, ties, social position and role, the migration process is always traumatic, due to the lack of what, before the departure, was considered one's own "cultural universe". Different food habits between the origin and the hosting country have in fact a central role in making it difficult to adjust oneself to the new context.
Food represents a means to regain possession of one’s identity, when it risks to be lost: it is a bridge towards one’s origins.
It is also important to outline the increasing prevalence in hosting countries of “import pathologies” from the countries of origin and of “adaptation pathologies”, related to the meaning attributed to the experience of migration. Scientific literature in fact refers to migration as the cause of a “cultural shock” leading to psychosomatic disorders ad pathologies.
On the one hand, migrants are generally healthy, because they are young and also because they undergo a sort of natural selection which tends to prefer only those people who have good psychophysical conditions (“healthy migrant effect”). On the other hand, migrants are more exposed to malnutrition, which is defined “acute” in case of long journeys in extremely bad conditions or “chronic” when it is due to low income and unbalanced diet. A number of researches have also proved that malnutrition, together with psychological stress and poverty, can lead to immunodepression.
Another outstanding phenomenon characterising immigration countries is represented by the presence of different religious systems. It is well known that feeding habits and rules play a fundamental role in the various religions, creating cultural barriers and strong group identity.
Starting from a short analysis of the dynamics of migration in Italy during the last twenty years, of the importance of nutrition in the migration process and of the diffusion of “new” foods, this book describes the food habits of different countries and provides indications on food education by respecting the different traditions.
The analysis will be divided in six areas (Latin America, Eastern Europe, Far East, Northern, Central and Sub-Saharan Africa) and then focused on the origin countries of the larger migrant communities in Italy.