Garlic and Love: Gastronomic Communication in an Intercultural Family

The paper discusses gastronomic discourse in a family including representatives of different cultures from semiotics and communication perspectives. The non-verbal aspect deals with foodstuffs, dishes, use of space and time, distribution of responsibilities between family members, artefacts, and scripts (sequences of actions). Verbal signs are represented by nominations of foodstuffs, dishes and artefacts, gastronomic metacommunication, and etiquette phrases accompanying a meal. The analysis of the way gastronomic systems are combined can be further extended to the study of other aspects of life in an intercultural family, such as living space, religious beliefs, moral values, etc.