Call for Papers and Panels

Focus of the conference

Food, the cornerstone of life, lies at the heart of our cultural identity. Vital for our health and well-being, our awareness of its economic, cultural and social significance — how the language of food and related practices travel across languages and cultures cannot be disregarded. Despite a rapidly expanding market for translation of food related texts: cookery books and TV programmes, magazines and food labels, to name just a few, and despite fast-pace evolving eating habits and phenomena, the relationship between food, culture and translation remains under-researched.

By bringing these issues to light, the first international conference on Food and Culture in Translation (FaCT), to be held in Bertinoro (Forlì), a tiny hamlet above the town of Forlimpopoli, home to the 19th century Italian food critic, food guru and gourmet, Pellegrino Artusi, author of the book: The Science of Cooking and the Art of eating Well, translated into many European languages, aims to be a truly interdisciplinary conference that brings together expert scholars and junior researchers using foodrelated topics as a case in point for their research.

This interdisciplinary conference acknowledges the importance of investigating food as a key phenomenon across various areas of society, language and culture. We propose to explore the delicate balance and subtle boundaries between food and translation, between food and migration, food and social and religious practices, between food and history, and other issues related to food trans-location, which seem to be one fundamental ingredient of modern multicultural societies.

The Conference will address a range of critically important issues and themes relating to Food as a cultural as well as social phenomenon that travels across languages, across cultures and across time and space. Plenary speakers include some of the leading thinkers in these areas, as:

Michael Cronin: Full professor at the School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Dublin City University.

Joanne Hollows: Reader at the College of Arts and Science of the School of Arts & Humanities, Nottingham Trent University.

Simone Cinotto: Researcher at the University of Gastronomic Sciences at Pollenzo, Bra.

Fred Gardaphe: Distinguished Professor at Queens College, CUNY.

Info about submission of individual papers and panel proposals

We are inviting proposals for paper presentations or pre-organized panel sessions, from different disciplines pertaining to the following thematic areas. Proposal ideas that extend beyond these thematic areas will also be considered.

We welcome individual proposals or pre-organized panels from different disciplines pertaining - but by no means limited - to the following thematic areas:

Submission deadlines