Cibus Disputatus: Intergenerational Tensions, Situated Authority, and Succession in a Migrant-Run Family Restaurant

Intergenerational authority in migrant families is often explained through differences in values and cultural orientation. This article examines authority as an interactional accomplishment of shared work. It draws on ethnographic observation and repeated interviews with a Lebanese family operating a historic regional Italian restaurant in northern Italy. Four vignettes identify jurisdictional mobility, correction trajectories, audience relay, and succession rehearsal. Across these processes, authority shifts with control of tasks, resources, and external audiences while ownership and seniority remain structurally privileged. Corrections secure immediate compliance and leave responsibility open to later repair. Customer evaluations acquire force through selective mediation. Temporary delegations make competence observable while preserving parental oversight. The analysis shows how hierarchy and specialization coexist in a migrant family enterprise and how succession begins through monitored, reversible trials embedded in ordinary work.