How do you say kélén-kélén in Italian? Migration, landscape and untranslatable food

This article discusses translation and migrant (in)visibility in Italy in the context of the so-called migrant and refugee crisis, using food as a key element in the redefinition of the asylum seekers’ cultural identities. The article builds on the debate on linguistic performance and landscape in translation studies and sociolinguistics, relating the first results of a research project being carried out in Perugia (Italy) in collaboration with the NGO Tamat. If migrants are to gain agency and visibility, this can only happen in relation to the host landscape, the material and linguistic resources available in that landscape, and the possibilities for acting successfully as translators. Food is a key element of the discussion on migration and integration: by studying interactions in an agriculture class for asylum seekers, this article investigates how a discussion on food opens spaces for a productive exploration of difference that involves social, environmental and cultural elements.