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Index

2025-07-17T09:55:59+00:00

Introduction

2025-07-15T09:20:35+00:00

Là où ça sent la merde / ça sent l’être. Semiotic Considerations on Poop Cafés in South Korea

2025-07-15T09:24:17+00:00

This semiotic research explores the emergence of “weird food” within South Korea’s burgeoning coffee culture, particularly through themed cafés that challenge conventional dining norms. Notably, the Poop Café (Ddong Café) serves as a case study, exemplifying the transformation of a traditionally taboo subject – feces – into a playful and consumer-friendly motif. This study examines how the café’s whimsical presentation of food and beverages, including toilet-shaped mugs and aesthetically styled dishes resembling excrement, re-contextualizes cultural associations of feces with fortune and cuteness. By analyzing the semiotic implications of these unusual theme, this research highlights the ways in which poop cafés engage visitors in a sensory experience that transcends mere consumption, inviting them to partake in a complex interplay of cuteness, disgust, and archaic superstitions. Through this lens, the phenomenon of weird food emerges as a reflection of contemporary post-medial conviviality, offering insights into the evolving landscape of culinary identity in South Korea.

Les potions d’amour dans la sémiosphère marocaine

2025-07-15T09:30:14+00:00

In Arab-Muslim esoteric literature, love potions occupy a prominent place; they are often introduced or described under the form of recipes to be prepared and served as a dish or drink diverted from their primary function, to feed or invite, for another function, to attract the loved one, to rekindle the flame of the one already loved or to neutralize a potential rival considered an enemy. Their complexity comes from the fact that they rely on apparent or hidden nourishment, but also on antithetical texts, the Koran and esoteric thought, renowned for their supernatural power. The Koran fought magic, but most recipes bring together surahs with invocations from Jewish Kabbalah for example. How to bring together in the same recipe, two opposing texts and at the cost of what hermeneutic distortions is the question that this raises. The other questions that these potions raise are related to the nature of the correlations that they establish between the ingredients and the aim to attract or neutralize a person. The plan followed in this study is as flow : After explaining the position of the Qur’an towards esoteric thought and highlighting its ambivalence, we will move on to the analysis of the recipes by focusing on their ingredients, on the importance of the figure of the enemy, the correlations they make and the bodies they postulate. We will choose as a case study two famous manuals from the popular library entitled: The Great Magic, by its author al-Husseini and the second entitled The Ancient Alliance by its author Al-Būnī.

Semiotics of Psychedelic Substances. From Traditional Contexts to Contemporary Practices

2025-07-15T10:40:41+00:00

This paper explores the historical, cultural, and semiotic dimensions of psychedelic substances such as peyote, magic mushrooms, mescaline, and psilocybin. Drawing from anthropology, neuroscience, philosophy, and semiotics, it examines how the meanings and uses of these substances have evolved across different cultures, from traditional indigenous rituals to modern therapeutic applications. Particular attention is given to processes of intercultural, interlinguistic, and intersemiotic translation that have shaped Western interpretations of psychedelics. Through a comparative semiotic lens, the study highlights how context, expectations, cultural practices and narratives significantly influence the phenomenology of psychedelic experiences. Finally, the recent “psychedelic renaissance” is considered in light of both its scientific advancements and cultural practices, emphasizing the need for a nuanced understanding of these substances as complex mediators between biology, mind, and meaning, thus proposing a media pharmacology framework.

Beyond Language. The Semiotics of Marginal Foods

2025-07-15T09:42:52+00:00

This paper seeks to explore, through the lens of semiotics, the narrative of “strange foods” as a constitutive element in the construction of the “other’s” identity. We will examine the symbolic spaces where power structures regulate the movement of “other foods,” their marginalized communal sharing, or their rhizomatic proliferation in distinctive urban areas (such as Queens). We will analyze a range of texts and images, spanning from international regulatory legislation to social media campaigns by populist parties, to reconstruct the modalities through which foods originating from external sources (immigrant foods, novel foods) are signified and regulated within the EU and US contexts. We conclude by engaging with Deleuze’s (1969) exploration of the relationship between eating and speaking, illustrating the connections between linguistic practices and food consumption. Building on this idea, we will explore why discussions of the “other”, the enemy frequently begin with the characterization of their language – foreign sounds – and extend to their “strange” food.

Product of the Edge. Maâjoun or Hashish with Ambivalent Symbolism

2025-07-15T09:45:18+00:00

To achieve a certain stability, society produces its own alterity, which is expressed in conventional, officially accepted forms, or conversely, in excluded forms that nonetheless manage to persist on the margins of the community, unrecognised, yet tolerated. Within this framework lies Maâjoun, a marginal product of ambivalent nature: both licit and illicit, food and drug, used to create a convivial atmosphere or to induce intoxication, and consumed across different social classes. This ambiguity intensifies in the Moroccan-Islamic context, where the phenomenon, though not legally recognised, is also not explicitly prohibited, thereby generating a symbolic dilemma. Maâjoun is thus perceived both as a marginal narcotic and as a refined delicacy, consumed within selective ritual contexts. This paradoxical situation invites reflection on the semiotic nature of the phenomenon and raises the question of which epistemological stance to adopt to render this cultural “figure” more intelligible. This figure is a priori determined by the social representation from which it emerges, where the practice of Maâjoun and its accompanying social ethics are intimately tied to symbolic form. We must therefore ask a methodological question: what means should we use to define this semiotic “object” in terms of its constituents, in order to approach it as a “subject” of knowledge and assign it a status? To do this, we propose tackling the issue from three directions: firstly, by contextualising it to define the existence of forms and practices of marginality; then, by analysing the context and ritual of Maâjoun consumption; and finally, by addressing its cultural meaning and symbolic investment.

Monsters Among Us: Pets, Cuisine, and the Politics of Otherness. The Woman Who Cooked Turtles and the Cat-Eater

2025-07-15T09:47:22+00:00

The political practice of attributing a disgusting, criminal or monstrous eating habit to someone whom one wishes to keep at a distance or expel is as old as the world itself and is part of the strategies with which cultures establish their identity in relation to otherness. Taking a cue from Donald Trump’s accusation of pet predation against Haitian immigrants during the last electoral campaign, we will analyze two Italian cases framed by the media in the realm of horror and adopted in the right-wing narrative as markers of the impossibility of cohabitation: the homeless woman who secretly cooked turtles in Rome and the man caught publicly roasting a cat in Livorno. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the preconditions for the effectiveness of this theme in political discourse, along with the tensions that arise between marginal local food practices, which are prohibited but tolerated, and those attributed to immigrants, which are conversely stigmatized without exception.

Strange Wines. Dealcoholised Wine at the Crossroads of Science, Identity, and the Politics of Drinking

2025-07-15T09:49:49+00:00

This paper examines the rise of dealcoholised wines through the lens of contemporary health discourse, identity politics, and evolving consumption practices, with a focus on the Italian context. It explores how wine is increasingly framed not only as a cultural and gastronomic emblem but also as a public health concern, sparking tensions between tradition and regulation, particularly following the Irish labelling initiative. Through a sociosemiotic approach, the study analyses exemplary media texts, public statements, and branding strategies to uncover the values and narratives at play. It argues that dealcoholisation reshapes both the semiotic and market identity of wine, revealing the complex entanglement of science, politics, and consumer culture in today’s alcohol debate.

Bread Is Sacred, Bread Is Profane. This Bread of Ours, So Strange and So Familiar

2025-07-15T09:52:22+00:00

Anyone approaching the topic of “bread” cannot help but acknowledge the difficulty of summarizing their perspective on it, no matter how much they narrow the scope of their analysis. This article addresses that challenge via a semiotic and aesthetic reading of a classic work on bread: Heinrich Eduard Jacob’s 1944 book Six Thousands Years of Bread, and expanding the analysis to include recent Italian literary, historical, and philosophical studies. The result presented here centers on a constitutive feature of bread: its nature as a pliable sign – both in form and content. Described as a zero degree sign of its “writings,” bread appears either essentially or differentially marginal, depending on the grammars that encompass it, like a sort of thing in itself whose phenomenology is marked by constant reinvention.

Dolly’s Ribs. For a Semiotics of Cultured Meat

2025-07-15T09:55:36+00:00

The advent of cultured meat has provoked wide-ranging debates in the food, ethical and political spheres. This new commodity genre, produced by growing animal cells in bioreactors instead of slaughtering animals, does not differ nutritionally from conventional meat, but raises questions about its cultural and natural status. Despite the ethical and environmental benefits of cultured meat, such as reduced CO2 emissions and animal protection, the introduction of this innovative food is opposed by many governments, including Italy. The debate, which goes beyond the food sphere, touches on political, social and cultural aspects, creating a dichotomy between the supporters of cultured meat, who extol its sustainability and innovation, and its detractors, who fear its artificiality and possible risks. The aim of this essay is to explore how cultured meat is portrayed in public discourse, both in its promotion and criticism, by analysing the terminologies used and the political and social rhetoric related to it. The analysis of various examples, including Italian and US positions, offers insight into the cultural and political dynamics that influence its entry into the market, raising questions about what really defines the concept of Nature and Culture in the contemporary context.

Eating Insects and Italian Gastronomy

2025-07-15T09:58:02+00:00

What happens in the culinary field when a new food appears – and with it a new taste – within a cultural system? How does the system react? What resources does it activate to make sense of and bridge the gap of difference and strangeness? We will examine the case of an ambitious attempt at major change: bringing insects to the plates of Italians. We will address these issues by dealing with specific cases of media and brand communication around the use of insect meal in the Italian market, where the consumption of foods based on crickets, locusts, larvae, is practically non-existent.

Conclusions

2025-07-15T10:00:32+00:00

Coquina. Images of Cooks in Contemporary Gastromania

2025-07-16T13:05:48+00:00

Can we be sure that modern chefs are all the same, with the same qualities, skills, knowledge and values? Can we assume that chefs everywhere adhere to the same systems of meaning and cooking procedures? Can we affirm that the surprise effect, so often sought after and criticised, and perhaps peppered with stereotypical values (sustainability, care for the environment, fighting waste, farm to fork, respect for tradition, the search for the absolute flavour, vegetarianism...) is the only goal of the contemporary cook? Or are we perhaps faced with a conceptual fog involving aesthetics, ethics, politics, society, the economy and religion that should be articulated and redefined in order to be better understood? This paper aims to answer such questions.

Paolo Fabbri’s Pinocchio – with an appendix containing an unpublished text by Paolo Fabbri titled "Structural Analysis of Pinocchio"

2025-07-16T13:06:35+00:00

Paolo Fabbri has dealt with Pinocchio over the years on several occasions, showing a passion for Collodi’s puppet that bordered on obsession. In this article I try to reconstruct Paolo Fabbri’s studies on Pinocchio, highlighting on the one hand the recurring themes and the main interpretative lines, on the other the tools used and the methodological choices. The work was also carried out by consulting the materials collected by Fabbri, now preserved at the “Paolo Fabbri” Library in Palermo, in Palazzo Tarallo.

Juan Alonso Aldama, La tension politique. Pour une sémiotique de la conflictualité, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2023 (p. 310)

2025-07-15T10:06:06+00:00

Michela Bassanelli, Imma Forino, a cura, Gli spazi delle donne. Casa, lavoro, società, Bologna, DeriveApprodi, 2024 (pp. 202)

2025-07-15T10:07:55+00:00

Vinciane Despret, Autobiografia di un polpo e altri racconti animali, Roma, Contrasto, 2022 (pp. 135)

2025-07-15T10:09:15+00:00

Tim Ingold, Il futuro alle spalle, Milano, Meltemi, 2024 (pp. 174)

2025-07-15T10:10:49+00:00

Lttr13, Le discours de la linguistique. Gestes et imaginaires du savoir, ENS Éditions, 2024 (pp. 262)

2025-07-15T10:12:07+00:00

Victor I. Stoichita, L’invenzione del quadro. Arte, artefici e artifici nella pittura europea, Milano, il Saggiatore, nuova ed. 2024 (pp. 496) e Cieli in cornice. Mistica e pittura nel secolo d’oro dell’arte spagnola, Roma, Meltemi, nuova ed. 2024 (pp. 29

2025-07-15T10:13:47+00:00

Ilaria Ventura Bordenca, Essere a dieta. Regimi alimentari e stili di vita, Milano, Meltemi, 2020 (pp. 380)

2025-07-15T10:15:22+00:00

Presentazione "Riletture"

2025-07-15T10:17:16+00:00

Marcel Detienne, Jean-Pierre Vernant, 1974, Le astuzie dell’intelligenza nell’antica Grecia, Roma-Bari, Laterza 2005 (pp. 268)

2025-07-15T10:22:55+00:00

Marcel Detienne, 1972, I giardini di Adone. La mitologia dei profumi e degli aromi in Grecia, Milano, Raffaello Cortina Editore, 2009 (pp. 277)

2025-07-15T10:24:21+00:00

Marcel Detienne, 1967, I maestri di verità nella Grecia arcaica, Roma-Bari, Laterza 2003 (pp. 144)

2025-07-15T10:25:42+00:00

Erving Goffman, Asylums. Essays on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates New York, Anchor Books, 1961 (pp. 415)

2025-07-15T10:27:00+00:00

Silvana Miceli, In nome del Segno, Palermo, Sellerio, 1982 (pp. 624)

2025-07-15T10:28:19+00:00

Victor Šklovskij, Teoria della prosa, Macerata, Quodlibet, 2025 (pp. 372)

2025-07-15T10:29:38+00:00