Anthropology of Food: Destinies of Meat Delicacies in Europe

Abstract

This is the guest editors’ introduction to the special theme of the issue on the “Homo Carnivorus: Traditions of Meat Preservation in Southern and Central Europe”, which includes contributions by M.Yu. Martynova, O.D. Fais-Leutskaia, E.I. Vodinchar and M.P. Klyaus, A.N. Kozhanovsky, and Е. Holler. The article discusses the state of food studies in anthropology, focusing specifically on ham and its varieties in different cultures. We take the cases of various countries and regions of Southern and Central Europe to compare different types of cured meat, examine their commonalities and dissimilarities, and explore them in a historical and cultural context. This thematic selection of articles is meant to make a contribution to the growing area of food studies and will be of interest to a broad interdisciplinary community of scholars working in academic fields from anthropology and ethnology to cultural studies, history, sociology, and political science.