Putting the Accent on Authenticity: A Case Study of Celebrity Chef Gennaro ‘Gino’ D’Acampo

Abstract

This article offers an analysis of one of the most recognised representations of ‘Italian-ness’ in the form of the positioning of television chef Gino D’Acampo, with a view to demonstrating the implications of the functions of the stereotype from a methodological perspective, and raising practical questions about the ideals, prejudices and anxieties of contemporary British society. The first part of the article illustrates the ways in which D’Acampo’s commercial and popular success is related to the projected image of his Italian identity. Providing a consideration of the limited and largely condescending treatment of his figure in Italian press, the essay suggests that he is literally ‘made in Britain’, and maps out the construction of his Italian-ness via a brief analysis of his media persona, output and relevant British press archive. The article explores the ‘performance/ivity’ of D’Acampo’s Italian-ness, illustrating the insights to be gained from focussing on use-value, particularly in generating alternative readings of gender, femininity and domesticity. D’Acampo’s negotiation of stereotyped images of the ‘Italian mother’ and ‘mammoni’ promotes recognition of how understandings of femininity are both class and nationality biased. The final part of the article returns to exchange-value, and the meaning of stereotypes as a reader-specific projection; a property of the subject-classifier, rather than object-classified. Tracing the prevalent associations of Italian-ness with notions of authenticity and nostalgia, the gaze is turned to contemporary British society and, in particular, to class-imbued anxieties in the elements of Italianità that are offered for consumption, and the ways in which they are presented to the consumer.