La povertà alimentare tra negoziazione simbolica e processi di empowerment

The paper proposes a reflection on the social and symbolic meanings of food by compar-ing the practices of redistribution of unsold products with the results of an ethnographic study carried out in the 'soup kitchens' linked to the Italian welfare system. The aim is to fill the gap in the existing literature on food poverty in order to investigate how food and its meanings are linked to a reconfiguration of social relations. The results deriving from the analysis of these practices will highlight the importance of symbolic negotiation processes linked to food and the consequent power relations, also in terms of empowerment of vulnerable individuals and groups. [Publisher's text]