Labor of love? Cooking, chaos, and consumption in Clara Sereni's Keeping House

Abstract

In Clara Sereni's (1946–2018) semi-autobiographical (cook)book, non-chronological recollections are evoked by a variety of recipes that mark crucial moments in the narrator's life. At first glance, Sereni portrays herself as a patient and perceptive housewife who learns how to read a room and cook accordingly. She describes her individuality and imagination in the kitchen as an adolescent, and later she depicts the pride and power she derives from her duties as a housewife. However, if we peer between the cracks, what emerges is a depiction of a woman who struggles to convince herself of her worth. Undoubtedly, cooking is one of Sereni's chosen means of communication and self-starvation is another. Food speaks volumes about the challenges she faces as a woman navigating the private, patriarchal sphere as well as the public, capitalist one at a crucial time when the Women's Movement was gaining momentum in Italy. In this article, I focus on Sereni's complex relationship to food, family, and freedom as she transitions from childhood, in the wake of the Second World War, to parenthood, on the heels of the Vietnam War. First, I illustrate how Sereni's account of adolescent bulimarexia in relationship to her father problematizes the mainstream eating disorder theory of the 1980s, which vilifies the role of the mother and largely overlooks the role of the father. Thereafter, I suggest that as an adult Sereni is spread thin in her conflicting roles as housewife and employee, and thus she struggles to negotiate the opposing demands imposed upon her. Consequently, Sereni experiences an eating disorder relapse. However, as an adult her anorexia is of a highly different nature, triggered by the larger social and cultural context of the 1970s, a time when the Italian feminist movement was arguably at its peak. In essence, I show how Sereni's eating disorder is shaped and reshaped over time, namely in line with a shifting patriarchal system.