The Contents of Typical Products: Tradition, Myth, Memory. Some notes on nostalgia marketing

Why do typical food products hold such a strong attraction for consumers? The main features of every typical product are its distinctiveness and its ability to recall the past. Steeped in the process of globalization, people are in search of uniqueness and of nostalgia. The syncretism characterizing food more and more, due to mass migration and to the global market, drives us to search for something exclusive, original and not produced on a large scale. Even in this case it’s not a matter of taste, but of identity. We are looking for the certainty that we are all individuals who can recognise and appreciate different tastes and express our preferences. We like choosing, but in the face of a large number of references we are confused and so the world “typical” becomes important in the selection process.