ABSTRACT

This chapter introduces the many connections between foodways and discourses from the perspective of linguistic anthropology. Several terms from semiotics, the study of signs, are defined in order to make sense of these multisensual and multimodal connections, and the material and symbolic parallels between the production and consumption of food and language are explored. The framework used to organize the book is outlined: language through food, language about food, language around food, and language as food. Wine is used as an example of how food values are constructed using language through-around-about-as food over historical time and social space.