Pages: 383-392 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp245383392

The study addresses one of the most extensive and still vital “offspring” of the medieval acculturation of Sicily — the “eastern segment” of the region's traditional cuisine; fueled by various sources, it was formed under the influence of various historical events. The study aims to reconstruct, through an appeal to food recipes that have not yet been fully studied, medieval ethnocultural contacts in the Mediterranean, which left a mark on the culture of Sicily. Along with this, the first attempt in scientific discourse is made to identify in the cultural and historical anthropology paradigm the reasons for such a high “predisposition” of the region to acculturation and oriental influences (which qualitatively distinguishes it from other objects of oriental expansion in Europe). Using the methods of structural and functional analysis, the author relies on theoretical and methodological principles developed in the depths of anthropology in relation to the phenomena of acculturation, cultural exchange, etc.; turning to history allows us to reconstruct the fundamental patterns of cultural borrowing processes, and the regional approach — to correlate theoretical conclusions with the realities of the studied region.

Keywords: alimentary culture, Oriental influences, Sicily, the Middle Ages, acculturation, Arab-Berbers, Jews, Spain

Information about author:

Oxana Fais-Leutskaia (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Center of European Researches, N. N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences. Lenin Ave., 32-A, Moscow, 119334, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-2757-2434