The article I have been asked to comment upon is essentially aimed at discussing the relationship between food, culture, language and translation, relying on examples from some works by postcolonial women writers (among them in particular Gloria Anzaldúa, Esmeralda Santiago, Chimamanda Adichie, Najat El Hachmi), in a Cultural Discourse Studies perspective (Shi-xu 2015) also drawing on postcolonial translation studies (Bassnett 2013). The conceptual frame in which the article is set rests on the assumption that food and eating are not only part of the biological processes aimed at sustenance, but comprise a set of products and actions that reflect culture, values, identities, ethnicities, and religions, and works as a system of communication. This premise is discussed with reference to the very rich literature on food produced mainly in semiotics, philosophy, geography, literature, sociology, economics, etc. and also in the light of ongoing research projects in translation studies aimed at exploring the relationship between food and translation. What is especially interesting is the fact that the authors use the condition of women living in postcolonial and migration settings, positioned as they are "between" two cultures and two languages as a magnifying lens to highlight the strong cultural connotation of food and food words as carriers of symbolic meanings: they qualify as essential elements for the construction of self-identity and the definition of a person's, a community's or a social group's identity, social collocation, and ethnicity. In Vidal and Faber's article this theme is connected with that of the meaning and value of translation in a post-colonial context. Linguistic aspects The request to comment on this article has been especially welcome to me, as the relationship between food, culture, language, and translation was central to my research for a few years as I was among the coordinators of a project entitled "Words for food" (2011-2016) (cf. Garzone 2015) aimed at exploring the value, meaning and linguistic designation of food in different languages and cultures. The project, occasioned by Milan Expo 2015 whose themeas is well known-was "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life", provided an excellent opportunity to reflect on the value and significance of words for food at a time when in developed countries discourses on food are proliferating especially in the media and in entertainment contexts (e.g. in TV programmes, food blogs, chef demonstrations, recipe books, etc). In the project, a wide range of different aspects related to food discourses, food cultures, food production, distribution and safety, and to scientific research in the biotech and agrofood sector were explored, but attention was also given to the political significance of food. Especially topical in this respect is the Milan Charter (http://carta.milano.it/en/ [20/07/2017]), a document in 19 languages launched during Expo 2015 as a counterpart to the essentially commercial focus of the event, to assert the idea that the right to foo...
