FROM TRADITIONAL COOKBOOKS TO FOOD PORN AND MUKBANG
THE SEMIOTICS OF FOOD AND THE DECLINING TREND IN COOKBOOK CIRCULATION IN THE ZAGREB CITY LIBRARIES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18485/bibliotekar.2025.67.1.8Keywords:
cookbook borrowing, food porn, food semiotics, library collection development and acquisition, mukbang, Zagreb City LibrariesAbstract
This paper argues that cookbooks are not trivial texts but rich sources of interpretive material and vital components of library collections. It emphasizes the need to encourage their more frequent borrowing. The first section explores culinary recipes through the lens of food semiotics and text semiotics, contrasting them with and critiquing contemporary digital gastronomic phenomena like food porn and mukbang. The second section examines the paradigm shift in traditional cookbooks and approaches to food, applying both traditional and modernization theories. Finally, the third section provides insight into a decade-long trend of declining cookbook circulation in the Zagreb City Libraries. This analysis is based on quantitative borrowing data from the ZaKi library system and practical experience with users and material acquisition at the Marija Jurić Zagorka Library, part of the Zagreb City Libraries network.
Downloads
References
Barthes Roland. Mitologije. Zagreb: Pelago, 2009.
Bertoša, Mislava. Od monarhijske reklame do queer lingvistike: Semiološki i jezikoslovni ogledi. Zagreb: Antibarbarus, 2014.
José Enrique Finol i Beatriz Pérez. Semiotic food, semiotic cooking: The ritual of preparation and consumption of hallacas in Venezuela. Semiotica (2016): 271–291, DOI 10.1515/sem-2016-0088.
Greimas, Algridas J.. Del senso. Milano: Bompiani, 1974.
Greimas, Algridais J. . Del senso 2. Milano: Bompiani, 1984.
Ivanišević, Jelena. Od kuharice do književnosti: ogledi o kulinarskoj prozi. Zagreb: Institut za etnologiju i folkloristiku, 2017.
Jelinčić, Daniela Angelina, Suzy Josipović Redžepagić, Sanja Tišma, Ana-Maria Boromisa, Mojca Vukovič. Klimatska kuharica. Zagreb: Ljevak, 2024.
Montanari, Massimo. Hrana kao kultura. Zagreb: Sandorf, 2011.
Nöth, Winfried. Priručnik semiotike. Zagreb: Ceres naklada, 2024.
Parodi Gasteñeta, Fernando. „Introducción a la semiología gastronómica”. Escritura y Pensamiento 5, 11 (2002): 123–141, https://sisbib.unmsm.edu.pe/bibvirtual/publicaciones/escri_pensam/2002_n11/introduccion_semiologia.htm (preuzeto 7. 7. 2024.)
Poerio, Giulia Lara et al. “More than a feeling: Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is characterized by reliable changes in affect and physiology”. PloS one 13,6 e0196645 (20 Jun. 2018). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0196645 (preuzeto 25. 5. 2025.)
Smokrović, Ana. Što jedeš: mitovi, istine i stvarnost na tanjuru. Zagreb: Planetopija, 2024.
Stano, Simona. „Edo ergo ludo, ludo ergo edo. Forme di vita ed estetiche del quotidiano tra universo alimentare e dimensione ludica”. Arti del vivere e semiotica: tendenze, gusti, estetiche del quotidiano, 18/19 (2015): 76–80, https://www.academia.edu/36075786/STANO_S._2015_Edo_ergo_ludo_ludo_ergo_edo._Forme_di_vita_ed_estetiche_del_quotidiano_tra_universo_alimentare_e_dimensione_ludica_._In_Arti_del_vivere_e_semiotica_tendenze_gusti_estetiche_del_quotidiano_E_C_IX_18-19_76-80 (preuzeto 7. 7. 2024.)
Vagni, Tito. „Food (is not) porn. Le immagini del cibo e l’orizzonte della scomparsa”. Mediascapes journal 9 (2017): 56–69. https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa03/mediascapes/article/view/14134 (preuzeto 7. 7. 2024.)
Mrežni izvori:
Carbon calculator. http://assets.plateupfotheplanet.org/carbon-calculator/ (preuzeto 30. 1. 2025.)
Hrvatsko knjižničarsko društvo. 4. okrugli stol o potencijalima razvitka manjih mjesta i gradova promicanjem knjige i čitanja: ČITANJE I HRANA: Food & Mood. https://www.hkdrustvo.hr/4-okrugli-stol-o-potencijalima-razvitka-manjih-mjesta-i-gradova-promicanjem-knjige-i-citanja-citanje-i-hrana-food-mood/ (preuzeto 11. 6. 2025.)
Libraries research guides. Cookbooks, Culinary Arts, Culinary History: Cookbook Collections. https://researchguides.library.wisc.edu/cookbooks/collections (preuzeto 10. 6. 2025.)
University of Leeds, Library. Cookery Collection. https://library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections/collection/703/cookery_collection (preuzeto 2. 6. 2025).
Znate li što je mukbang? Hit na YouTubeu od kojeg ljudima rastu zazubice. Punkufer. https://punkufer.dnevnik.hr/clanak/sto-je-mukbang---526379.html (preuzeto 8. 7. 2024.)
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 The Librarian: The Journal of Theory and Practice of Librarianship
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
