The Taste of Home. Migrants’ Food in the Making between Continuity and Change

The essay explores the role of food as a home-making tool within migrant communities, highlighting its role in re-creating a sense of place and belonging in contexts of arrival. It examines how food serves as both an anchor to places of origin and as a means for transformation and adaptation, offering insights into processes of cultural stratification associated to migration. In these contexts, food retains its symbolic meaning while contributing to the reshaping of local spaces and identities. Based on ethnographic research conducted in Naples, the essay analyzes the transformative dynamics of food practices among sub-Saharan African migrants and the impact of migrant cuisine on the local context.