Abstract
Winner of the most prestigious Italian science-fiction award in 1997, Spaceship Chef: A Memoir (my translation) tells the story of Ruby “Basilico” Turturro, a human chef from Hearth who works onboard a spacecraft travelling across the universe. The spaceship hosts different species of sentient animals, both human and non-human, each bringing their culture to the communal table. Chef Turturro’s culinary arts face an unusual challenge: designing menus and preparing dishes that do not harm or violate both human and nonhuman alimentary needs, restrictions, or taboos. In this paper, I read Massimo Mongai’s work as a radical critique of anthropocentrism by considering food—from its design and preparation to its consumption and appreciation—as a political event. In his fictional memoir, Mongai repositions traditional definitions of consumer and consumed and provokes deeper considerations of food ethics and social justice. Moreover, his mix of narrative, essay, and recipes profoundly reorients humanity’s standing in relation to the world, to one another, and to oneself by placing human bodies in a broader network of bodies (such as the bodies of animals) and situating them within larger processes (such as evolution).
Presenters
Norman RusinLecturer, Modern Languages, Salve Regina University, Rhode Island, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Food Taboos, Food Ethics, Food Sociability, Animal Rights, Culinary Arts
