"Cucina Bianca" Tradition: Shepherds' Food During Transhumance in the Italian and French Maritime Alps

This article examines the food culture of pastoralists who practice transhumance in the Italian Alpine region, with a special focus on the culinary tradition known as "cucina bianca" (white eating) of the Alpes-Maritimes. Through the analysis of ethnographic, historical, and archaeological sources, this study reconstructs the food practices of pastoral communities that migrated seasonally between the valleys and high-mountain pastures. Research demonstrates that white feeding represents a sophisticated culinary system born out of necessity and characterized by the predominance of dairy products, cereal-based preparations, roots, and wild herbs. Integrating Durkheim's perspectives on the sacred-profane dichotomy, Eliade on the transhuman structure of existence, Jackson on psychological transformation through food, Douglas on classification and purity systems, Katz on the conservatism of food traditions as identity markers, and Geertz on religion as a system of symbols and "dense description" as a method of cultural interpretation, the article reveals how white food articulates a synthesis between material needs, social organization, and pastoral cosmology. This article argues that the cuisine reflects not only dietary constraints, but incorporates the broader social, economic, and environmental realities of transhumant grazing in the Italian Alps to present a comprehensive picture of the pastoral food traditions that have sustained communities for centuries and continue to inform contemporary understandings of Alpine cultural heritage.​