Food as a cultural asset contributes to the construction of local identity. The paper analyzes the contrast between glo- balization and the opposite trend. The first tends to homolo- gation recognizing something as typical always re-proposed it in the same way to mass tourism, while the other trend seeks an exaltation and enhancement of the authenticity of popular food cultures linked to the local dimension which, by their nature, are in constant transformation. The reflection fo- cuses on the city of Naples, emphasizing the role of popular food culture in the construction of a common imaginary of the city, and reporting the analysis carried out on some typo- logical invariants recognized in the communication systems of food shops and restaurants
