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Paper short abstract:

The presentation is going to analize the role of food in memes about the war and how the jokes help rally people, provide support and protection, demarcate borders, as well as how they articulate ideas which go beyond words, e.g., love, gratitude, fear, shame, disgust or disgrace.

Paper long abstract:

The paper deals with the representation of food in Ukrainian memeic culture of the war. In the times of crisis humour help survive a difficult situation and relieve the stress. This type of humour helps to adapt to the new circumstances, to reflect the consensus on the issue and the attitudes towards it.

The presentation is going to analize the role of food in memes about the war and how the jokes help rally people, provide support and protection, demarcate borders, as well as how they articulate ideas which go beyond words, e.g., love, gratitude, fear, shame, disgust or disgrace.

We will examine how food becomes a means of resistance, a weapon that is used to neutralise the enemy, how it demarcates territories and gives hope. Demarcating has become one of the most important phenomena in contemporary Ukrainian culture. It works by association when place names are linked to the types of food (the city of Lyman sounds like lemon, Izium - raisins); or to a local signature product (the city of Melitopol is associated with cherries, the Kherson province with tomatoes and watermelons, the city of Bakhmut with salt and sparkling wine). These examples are widely used in popular memes, too.

The paper aims to show how gastronomic humour is shaping the new reality and creating the new context in respect to defining who the Ukrainians are and how they mark and express a sense of personal identity at all levels.