Religions, Women and Food Practices between Inclusion and Exclusion

Contemporary societies are dealing with issues related to diversity, among which food and cooking are privileged means for exploring otherness. Food is always a vehicle for both keeping and transmitting tradition, but also important innovations. Concerning the meeting and the conflict among cultural and religious diversities, food is pivotal for reflecting about symbolic and corporal necessities of minorities. The dimension of the links between food and cultural practices is linked to conflicts among identities, the respect of individual freedom, the recognition of cultural and religious communities and the contrast of discriminations. Urban scale is one of the most interesting contexts for exploring potential innovations in political practices of citizenship of religious minorities. In this sense, ones of the first subjects involved by institutional good practices in defending the rights linked to differences, promoting cultural and social inclusion, managing conflicts, are families and in particular women. My Paper analyses the roles of women of religious communities of Turin, Italy, involved in a pilot project regarding cultural and social cohesion, promoted by the city and their relation with food and cooking, based on the perspective of innovation/tradition and of the transmission of knowledge and especially practices.