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This book explores how women’s relationship with food has been represented in Italian literature, cinema, scientific writings and other forms of cultural expression from the 19th century to the present. Italian women have often been portrayed cooking and serving meals to others, while denying themselves the pleasure of the table. The collection presents a comprehensive understanding of the symbolic meanings associated with food and of the way these intersect with Italian women’s socio-cultural history and the feminist movement. From case studies on Sophia Loren and Elena Ferrante, to analyses of cookbooks by Italian chefs, each chapter examines the unique contribution Italian culture has made to perceiving and portraying women in a specific relation to food, addressing issues of gender, identity and politics of the body.

This paper focuses on a virtual exchange project between the University of Virginia, United States, and an upper-secondary school in Pavia, Italy. Centred on the question of gender equality, the project has been designed to take place over three years (2018-21), and with direct reference to the transnational model of virtual exchange for global citizenship education proposed in 2019 by Robert O’Dowd. As an integrated part of the language learning curriculum, the project creates a virtual space which parallels the space-time of traditional class tuition, and which students can inhabit with a significant degree of autonomy. The project aims to foster gender equality and help students to reflect on the sociocultural evolution of the language and how it can be used to address issues of identity, diversity and inclusion.

La relación de la mujer con la comida ha sido (mal)interpretadadesde el principio de la historia de Occidente, a menudo equiparando erróneamentecon la vergüenza, el pecado y la transgresión. Por lo tanto, escribir sobre la relaciónde la mujer con la comida y, en particular, sobre los trastornos alimentarios en la ficción, las autobiografías y los relatos no consiste simplemente en describirlos síntomas de estas patologías y la rutina diaria de las protagonistas;también significa escribir sobre cuestiones complejas de identidad y sobre el yo, el cuerpo femenino, las normas y comportamientos sociales y reflexionar sobre la angustia de las mujeres ante sus roles de género. Como se recoge en este número especial, el retrato de los trastornos alimentarios en lasmujeres de todo el mundo aborda estas complejas cuestiones y el modo en que  las mujeres han discutido sus ansiedades hacia las identidades y los roles sociales a través de su relación con el cuerpo y la comida.