Eating, food and culture: analysis of the teaching about food in undergraduate in nutrition
Temas em Educ. e Saúde, Araraquara, v. 19, n. 00, e023014, 2023. e-ISSN: 2526-3471
DOI: https://doi.org/10.26673/tes.v19i00.17655 10
and Candomblé faces a lot of prejudice (Journal entry regarding the Baianas
de Acarajé ceremony, presented in class, our translation).
Once again, Dória's book (2014), an essential part of the course, appears in the students'
comments, expanding their view of food. Specifically, the bond of Brazilians with beans makes
a new appearance, this time under a cultural lens:
I saw that cuisine is not just a combination of dishes; it is historical (Journal
entry regarding the impacts of reading the book "A formação da culinária
brasileira: escritos sobre a cozinha inzoneira" by Carlos Alberto Dória,
discussed in seminars, our translation).
I found beans very important because, truly, beans are the history of Brazil,
both of the individual and the region. This helped me see that food is indeed
history; it is culture (Journal entry regarding the impacts of reading the book
"A formação da culinária brasileira: escritos sobre a cozinha inzoneira" by
Carlos Alberto Dória, discussed in seminars, our translation).
According to Bloch-Dano (2011), food has been surrounded by symbolic associations
throughout human history. Among the many cultural associations with food discussed by the
author, some examples are cited: "cereals constitute the foundation and symbol of peasants,
while meat, for a long time, was a sign of wealth and luxury," vegetables have "little place in
poetry and art," have a pejorative sense in culture, and treating a person like a vegetable is
offensive (BLOCH-DANO, 2011, our translation).
During the Middle Ages, aristocratic tables exalted wild animals, free like the nobles.
Thus, symbolism links the food's intrinsic characteristics to the one who consumes it, bringing
the idea that the individual is what they consume, and they consume what they are (BLOCH-
DANO, 2011). In this way, among human beings, which foods are consumed, how much, in
what order, and their method of preparation are filled with meanings and cultural ties.
Food is intensely linked to memory: the sweet one ate at childhood parties, the cake the
grandmother made in the late afternoon, and the dish only made at Christmas. Preparations
connected us to moments in our lives when those dishes were present because food is also in
our memories (BLOCH-DANO, 2011).
Here we have the concept of gustatory memory, worked on in class and apprehended by
the students through discussions and activities:
Some foods bring good and bad memories [...] Food has the power to make
you relive a moment of your life, whether it's good or not (Journal entry
regarding gustatory memory discussed in class, our translation).