Summary of "Culinary linguistics : the chef’s special"

Abstract

Both eating and talking are universal human traits that are highly socially charged and culturally dependent. While Brillat-Savarin, one of the earliest food writer claimed “Tell me what you eat: I will tell you what you are” (1825), linguists could claim “Let me hear you talk: I will tell you who you are.” Since both food and language do more than cater for bare necessities, they represent perfect site for social studies. The present volume attempts to delimit the field at the interface between these two social phenomena, language and food, and contains a collection of original research articles revolving around the common theme of language and food, and the manifestation of the two within their cultural frameworks.