Umberto Eco's Culinary Aversion Explored in New Study on His Minor Writings

A new investigation into Umberto Eco's multifaceted oeuvre, published ten years after his death, reveals a disconnect between his major academic and literary works and his hundreds of journalistic or minor writings. The author himself had identified this tenth-anniversary moment as a pertinent frontier between remembering and rereading, or even reading anew. Regarding food and gastronomy, Eco devoted very little attention, aside from monastic meals in The Name of the Rose and verbose descriptions of sumptuous dishes in The Prague Cemetery. Fine dining was not his forte, and he never chose where to dine based on stars or ratings. Dining with him was enjoyable for everything else—the knowledgeable conversation, the unrepeatable jokes, and more. The study, conducted by Gianfranco Marrone and Anita Romanello, was published on September 20, 2026, by Doppiozero. It highlights the surprising gaps in Eco's vast output, particularly his indifference to culinary culture, despite his keen engagement with other aspects of daily life and intellectual discourse. The analysis underscores how his minor writings often diverged from the themes of his major works, offering a fresh perspective on his legacy a decade after his passing.