Per un repertorio degli stili alimentari nell’altopiano etiopico. Note su commensalità, divisione, spartizione e gerarchie sociali.

Abstract

The core of the northern and central regions of Ethiopia have a rich and long lasting written literature and fresh and important data on food and culture are now available thanks to the anthropological field research: however we suffer the lack of a Historical and Ethnographic Atlas, where those data could be registered and organized. That should be the basis for a historical and ethnographic analysis on the variety and complexities of such an important issue as food and the making of regional features and a modern national cuisine. This article, starting with the important issue of the feast and noblemen's banquet, analysed by scholars like M. Derat and R. Pankhurst, deals with crucial topics: commensality, the social value of dishes and drinks, slaughtering of animals, the partition of meat and teğğ according to the social hierarchy of the Ethiopian historical society.