Keeping the Knives Sharp: Socioeconomic Innovation in the Artisan Sector of Butchery in Italy

Fontefrancesco, Michele Filippo; Costa, Andrea

Abstract

This paper investigates the socioeconomic and cultural transformation in food artisan entrepreneurship due to the complexification of the food sector and ongoing globalisation through a case study conducted among the artisan butchers of Genoa, Italy. The butcher’s trade has enjoyed centrality and social and cultural promotion that made butcher shops key places in the urban foodscape. However, this centrality is challenged by both new consumption trends and the imposition of large-scale organised distribution as the fulcrum of mass food trade. These changes raise the question about the future of the profession and its knowledge. This paper addresses this question by investigating the structure of the butcher’s business and the practices involved in knowledge creation and transmission, exploring the factor of change and its effects on the butcher’s profession, as well as the very foundational aspects of the artisanship. The research suggests that artisanship should be read as a form of entrepreneurship capable of placing and moving the craftsman within the global social hierarchy of a community. Therefore, the preservation of artisanship and its sociocultural complexity cannot be limited to the mere preservation of gastronomic forms and techniques.

Citation

Fontefrancesco, M. F., & Costa, A. (2023). Keeping the Knives Sharp: Socioeconomic Innovation in the Artisan Sector of Butchery in Italy. Societies, 13(4), Article 80. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc13040080

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 24, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Mar 26, 2023
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2023
• Deposit Date: Nov 7, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 7, 2023
• Journal: Societies
• Electronic ISSN: 2075-4698
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 4
• Article Number: 80
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/soc13040080
• Keywords: General Social Sciences
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1900120