Food Culture and Translation: A Proposal for an Applied Methodological Framework

According to the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, the UNESCO treaty adopted by the UNESCO General Conference on 17 October 2003, food practices and traditional food items are acknowledged as intangible cultural heritage. Food culture is a living expression of the ancestral practice to respond to a universal human need for nutrition and sociality, adapted to our times and to the tourism industry. Food is an immediate cultural trait experienced when meeting a new culture, together with language. Experiencing cultures through their food is now no longer limited to abroad travels, but it has also become the norm with ethnic restaurants importing food identities into local cultures. So far, research has focused on translation of traditional food in relation to identity and otherness; however, the transactional side of translating restaurant menus as means to increase awareness of local cultures seems to call for more attention. This contribution is based on the translation of a traditional Florentine restaurant menu that arose numerous methodological questions and discusses translation strategies to allow menus to be considered not only as an introduction to cultural identities, but as privileged text type to educate to cultural diversity.