Pasta, Pizza and Propaganda

Francesco Buscemi researches on food TV, political communication and cultural history. He teaches media history and media writing at the Catholic University of Milan, Insubria University and University of Udine.

• Introduction                                                                                                             Chapter 1: Literature review, theoretical framework and methodology        Politics, television and food in Italy: Dangerous liaisons                       Politics in Italy after the Second World War                                             Television in Italy                                                                             Italian food between reality and stereotypes                              Italian food TV                                                                                  Theoretical framework                                                                                Methodology                                                                                                 Conclusion                                                                                                    Chapter 2: Broadcasting sacred food: 1954–1970                                             Soldati's journey to the Po Valley                                                              Soldati's conception of genuineness                                                         Nature and culture                                                                                     Culture and the past                                                                                               Where are the women?                                                                               Soldati's sacred food                                                                                   Linea contro linea                                                                                       Conclusion                                                                                                    Chapter 3: 1971–1980: The ephemeral wind of change                                              A new political scenario                                                                               The new scenario on TV: RAI's reformation                                             A Tavola alle 7                                                                                              The relationship between Veronelli and Ninchi                          Ninchi, Veronelli and the field of Italian politics in the 1970s    Dimmi Come Mangi and the dawn of neo-TV                                          Conclusion                                                                                                    Chapter 4: 1981–1999: Going back home (and to the kitchen)                        Riflusso and Italy in the 1980s and 1990s                                                           Wilma De Angelis and home cooking                                                         A Pranzo con Wilma                                                                         Food television becomes a genre                                                              Conclusion                                                                                                    Chapter 5: Eating TV: Food on Berlusconian television, 2000–2012                The celebrity housewives and their shows                                             La Prova del Cuoco                                                                          Women between power and stereotype                                      Serving sacred food in Trattoria                                                   The contrasted discovery of foreign food                                               Food in the news                                                                                         Conclusion                                                                                        Chapter 6: 2012–the present, the Italian way to the celebrity chef              The invasion of the global formats           A case of Italian adaptation: From kitchen nightmares to Cucine da IncuboA Cena da Me: Representing food to talk about something else          Food Network Italia                                                                                     The new celebrity chefs                                                                            Alessandro Borghese e Simone RugiatiMasterChef                                       Italian food out of Italy                                                       Dietary chefs and their enemies                                                   The tough chef                                                                               Female professional cooking                                                                      Benedetta Rossi, the anti-chef                                                        Conclusion    Conclusion

'Buscemi provides in-depth discussions on the important links between British and Italian food culture, television, politics and associated industries and behaviours. [...] [This book] will be valuable to students of television generally, and particularly those taking an interdisciplinary approach to media, food, culture, politics and globalisation. Buscemi provides a capsule case study of the development over sixty years of Italian television and the journey of food through those decades, witnessing changes to gender expectations, ideas of being a ‘better’ Italian and the possibility of food being used to promote a political ‘lie’ (p. 138) to viewers. [It] considers the culinary and cultural capital that the presenters acquire through television appearances and then use in their representations of the politics of food, world events and aspects of our lives which are far from frivolous.'