The Transnational Food Network of the Italian American Families Business, Gender and Generation at the beginning of the XX century

Abstract

This essay will focus on the relations between food, gender, and generation among Italian Americans at the beginning of the XX century. Families had been the center of a generational shock, in which parents forced sons and daughters to accept a tradition to keep the power on new generations. The tradition they claimed to belong to, was an ideological construction suitable for the American life, which witnessed the decline of the patriarchal family. Food also played an important role in family business development in Italy and United States. Some family-run, or family-owned companies developed their business on the two sides of the Ocean influencing at the same time the Italian and American industrial landscape. This essay will connect cultural and social history of the Italian American families with economic and business histories elements, key references to understand the way Italians shaped their ethnic identity in the Americans diaspora background.

Keywords

• food history
• italian americans
• transnational studies
• business history
• migrations