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In the history of monasticism the attention given to food and discipline in diet is central to eremitical and coenobitical experience in both the East and West. The types of food and the quantities and timing of repasts are abundantly evident in precepts, rules and customs. While no dish or beverage is absolutely prohibited – not even wine or meat – nutritional choices had to be justified on biblical and religious grounds and above all medical and dietetic ones. The present article will show that consideration of these themes – with reference in particular to the medieval period and the Rule of St. Benedict (Regula Benedicti) – sheds light on our understanding of the norms of observance which for centuries have characterised the Christian ascetical tradition.

The concern for health, the elimination of suffering and illness in the physical and spiritual dimension has been the subject of theoretical reflection since antiquity. Medieval medical treatises, written at the Salerno medical school, dealt in detail with food substances, classify-ing them as nourishment and effective remedies for many conditions. Diet was considered an integral part of a person’s overall wellbeing. Food and drink had nutritional, preventive, and healing functions. Dietary recommendations were based on formed knowledge, observation, experience and were justified by the rules of humoral pathology. They were based on the principles of balance, moderation, and an individual approach to a person.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the names of food and drink in the Ladder of John Climacus. The material for analysis is the published text of the work (Patrologia Graeca, vol. LXXXVIII) and three unpublished ancient Greek manuscripts of the Ladder. In total, 21 words were found in the work, included in the lexical-semantic group “Food”, and 6 words included in the lexical-semantic group “Drink”. In many cases, lexemes are used in pairs (salt and oil, milk and honey, bread and water, bread and mustard). This use is obviously due to the biblical tradition, on the basis of which the author of the Ladder built his book. For the general designation of food, nouns such as βρῶμα, τροφή, τρυφή, βρῶσις, ἔδεσμα, ἑστίασις, ὄψον, τράπεζα, ἐδώδιμον are used. In a collective sense, the lexemes καρπός and ὀπώρα are used to designate fruits. For the names of vegetables (herbs) in the Ladder, lexemes such as πικρίς and λάχανον are used. Of the specific types of food in the Ladder, there are names of baked goods (ἄρτος ‘bread’ and ἄζυμον ‘unleavened bread’), grapes (βότρυς and ῥάγας), spices (ἔλαιον ‘olive oil’ and ἅλας ‘salt’), honey (μέλι) and cheese (τυρός). To designate drink, in general, in the Ladder there are the lexemes πόμα, νάμα and ποτόν. Specific drinks are called ὕδωρ ‘water’, οἶνος ‘wine’ and γάλα ‘milk’. In the lexical-semantic groups “Food” and “Drink” hyperonyms clearly prevail over hyponyms. The small amount of specific vocabulary is explained by the fact that for a monk, as he moves up the ladder of virtues, it is less and less important what food he consumes. Monks who have reached the highest degrees of spiritual life (ἰσάγγελοι, equal to the angels) no longer feel the taste of food and forget to take it; for them the most important thing is spiritual food. In the lexico-semantic groups “Food” and “Drink” in the Ladder, as in the texts of the Holy Scriptures, direct (physical) and figurative (spiritual) meanings are masterfully connected. Almost all examples of the use of these words can be viewed both in the direct and in the symbolic sense. In the highest metaphorical meaning, all lexemes included in the thematic field “Nutrition” represent a symbol of participation in God’s salvation in Christ.

The authors of the article: “Kitchen Lab for Kids – a Programme for Shaping STEM Skills in Preschool” have presented the assumptions of the project financed from the European Funds within the Programme “Erasmus+ Action 2. School education – strategic partnerships for school education” (KA 201). The objective of five research teams from Italy, Ireland, Spain and Poland, is promoting the international exchange of the best practices and experiences in selecting active learning at the level of early childhood education and care (ECEC), as well as stimulating and encouraging teachers to find new, modern and interactive teaching methods, especially in the scope of STEM education. In the first part of the article the authors analysed the EU documents being the basis for the project actions. Also, they emphasized the meaning of improving the quality of teaching young children. In the further part of the article, they presented the methodological assumptions of the project and expected intellectual results. Article prepared within the frame of Erasmus+ Project “Kitchen Lab for Kids,” grant number 2018-1-PL01-KA201-050857. The article prepared with financial support of EU Erasmus+ programme. The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

In her autobiographical texts, Hélène Cixous creates a strong connection between self, writing and place through the medium of consumption. Hers is a voracious writing which both consumes and creates the self. In her texts there is an intricate relationship – on the level of the signifier – between the narrating “I”, the letters of the text and referentiality. Perhaps one of the most conspicuous examples is her play upon words in Living the Orange, where orange is a pun made up of Oran, her birth place, and je which claims a central part in the text. In this way, Cixous ensures a non-objectified version of the self but one which is entrenched in a highly subjective space and language.

The aim of this essay is to explore the classical theoretical considerations and the post-modern scenarios, in which the discourse on food is set, by focusing the sociological attention on the fundamental features of contemporary ideologies and food routine. We will study the newly introduced reconfiguration of culinary techniques and arts into the media framework, with special attention to the "gastromania" scenarios 2.0. We will therefore analyze the social, cultural and economic impact of social networks on our food choices. Our interpretative perspective will be based on the topics of disinformation. Our hypothesis is that the greater space that old and new media are devoting to the story of food and well-being does not involve, however, a higher degree of knowledge of food issues.

In postmodern society, speed has increasingly affirmed itself as synonymous of efficiency, capacity and competence. As result, this rapidity has produced a growing gap between a slow world and one more and more fast, with negative consequences on the environment and especially on the wellbeing of people. On the other hand, slowness has gradually established itself as a kind of manifesto which opposes the dominant system of values and reaffirms the importance of other dimensions of life in addition to labour and productivity. In this perspective, the study focuses on the set of “slow” practices aimed at enhancing territories and implementing sustainable development models, also in connection with tourism. For this purpose some Italian slow cities’ experiences are taken into consideration.

The article surveys the available data on food of plant origin used in the period of the First Bulgarian Empire. The information is based on written sources and paleobotanical data, which show the presence of diverse plants used for food. It is also evident that these data are rather scarce compared to those from Byzantium. No food recipes have survived from this period, but there is some secondary evidence allowing the reconstruction of some foods. It suggests that grain porridges, rather than bread, were the main food.

The documents of the so-called Fund of the judge of the orphans of Loulé, from the Historical Archive of this city, are rare pieces in the Portuguese medieval context, with enormous interest for the study of medieval orphanage. Although produced to safeguard the interest of the orphans, and to follow the way the respective guardians administered their property or held accounts of these tutelages, they equally reveal many other facets of medieval living. Ten of them, drafted over seventy years, between 1408 and 1479, are used here to recover the utensils used in the kitchen and at the medieval table, associated with the storage, cooking and consumption of food. Not forgetting the nature and limits of the written records, but combining their reports with archaeological and ethnographical data, a fairly coherent picture was obtained, with observations on the social significance of the shortage of equipments in certain households, or on the distinction denounced by the quality and rarity of some other kitchenware.

As a sensitive actor of a renaissance, food operates like the poetry of a world to savor. The tenderness of the Madonna of the Pomegranate in Botticelli, love in the boeuf mode in Proust, the oiliness evoked by the pink colour or in Sartre's sugar experiment, the fragrance of an exotic correspondence of mist with spices in Rollinger and Ellena: how does food open the imaginary of the aesthetic flesh? In this article I will focus on contemporary art in reference to culinary performances and edible installations in order to explore the first function of food: to nourish the body. Moving from the artist's animal gluttony to the receiver's, how does the intrinsic relationship of food with the work of art take place?

Eating, quintessence of biopsychosocial behavior, is determined by multiple factors tied to different motivational systems. Therefore, a multiplicity of intertwined perspectives is necessary and psychiatry, “frontier science”, is particularly suitable to study human eating, taking also into account other cultural and scientific approaches. As a result of the recent socio-cultural transformations the relationship with food assumed specific pathological features, unknown in the past, ranging from extreme appetite to inflexible refusal to eat. Creating a path from physiology to the unconscious, reward systems, relational meanings of eating, and the unconscious symbol of food will be discussed.

The paper aims to demonstrate the way food can reflect peoples‘ beliefs and mentalities. We analyze the myth of paradise through the legendary image of the Blajini (the Gentle ones), an ascetic community which appears linked to the Easter celebration. We a lso bring into discussion the tale of Alexander the Great, the myth of Pays de Cocagne and some other Romanian and European writings which concern images of heaven and hell. Each food and each context of feeding presented indicate the different ways in whic h people understand happiness.

Food tropes remain potent literary devices to both dissimulate political critique and revitalize individual agency. In what follows, we propose a comparative analysis of Baltasar Lopes’ Chiquinho and Paulina Chiziane’s Niketche: uma história de poligamia that examines their respective literary use of food. Through food tropes both authors navigate their respective worlds of change where scarcity and abundance coexist as constant reminders that sustenance is not merely a part of their modern realities, but fully embedded into their search for self-fulfillment and self-realization. Through this scope, it is argued that food tropes allow the authors to unmask the fractures within colonial and post-colonial modalities of oppression. Lastly, we ultimately suggest that food tropes provide a space in which characters embark on a return journey to “wholeness” and self-liberation.This article is published under a CC-BY license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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