Recent Trends in Food History Research in Ibero-America: 2014-2016

Corresponding members’ reports Wanessa Asfora and Gregorio Saldarriaga Universidade Estadual de Campinas; Universidad de Antioquia Recent Trends in Food History Research in Ibero-America: 2014-2016 Since the last review on food history research produced in Ibero-America was published in this journal some four years ago,1 it seems that a significant increase in interest in food has resulted in an equally significant increase in the academic output related to this topic in the countries surveyed. A more comprehensive – and therefore conclusive – analysis of the Ibero-American scenario will only be achievable when the academic milieus of its twenty-one countries can be properly investigated. This is a task that so far has been hampered, unlikely as it may sound, by the difficulties of tracking and finding out what scholars from other countries (with a few exceptions) have been researching in terms of food history. There is nothing similar to a “continental” database, and a global network such as Academia.edu is still very little used by Ibero-American researchers. This being the case, all the work done for the present review is based on individual consultation of different sorts of national databases (journals, meetings, universities, associations, etc.), with consequential limitations to its character and scope. Over the last two years, the sociocultural approach, heavily based on French historiography (mainly on the intellectual heritage of the third generation of the Annales School), has continued to dominate the issues addressed in publications. In terms of chronology, the colonial–national dyad is almost hegemonic among historians whereas identity issues still occupy a prevalent place among the investigated themes. Insofar as Brazilian colonial history is concerned, the book published by Rafaela Basso in 2015 examines the consumption of maize and the techniques of preparing it in a specific region of the state of São Paulo (the Plateau of Piratininga) in the period between the sixteenth and the eighteenth centuries. The main focus of the research is to understand the process with which 1 Gregorio SALDARRIAGA, Wanessa ASFORA, “A Decade of Research in Ibero-America”, Food & History, vol. 10, no. 2 (2012), pp. 205–213. Food & History, vol. 13, n° 1-3 (2015), pp. 285-290 doi: 10.1484/J.FOOD.5.112644 286 Wanessa Asfora and Gregorio Saldarriaga maize was incorporated into the regional food culture. The fact that maize constitutes an emblematic indigenous food item that was assimilated by Europeans during colonization is very much advocated by historians but, from the author’s perspective, not sufficiently investigated.2 Discussing food issues in Colombia’s colonial history, Gregorio Saldarriaga shows in an article published in 2015 how the Spaniards imposed the cultivation of wheat on certain communities and, in turn, how the native groups appropriated the practices of cultivation, trade and transformation of this cereal during part of the colonial period.3 Based on sixteenth- and seventeenth-century chronicles, another historian, Óscar Eduardo Rueda Pimiento, has investigated and identified the reasons why different foodstuffs were considered edible or disgusting by the conquistadores in one of the first expeditions to explore that part of the world.4 Between 2013 and 2015, the historian Juan Martínez Borrero published two articles on food in colonial times in Ecuador. The first one investigates food in a peripheral town in the Andes based on a variety of printed sources, including descriptions of the territory from the city’s foundation until the first decade of the seventeenth century. In the second one, Martínez Borrero develops an in-depth analysis of Cuenca’s regional food in the eighteenth century. In this article, he focuses on the role of fruit in the diet and the way travelers and chronicles described it in the eighteenth century.5 Over these three years, it seems that the study of food history in later periods of Ibero-America history has not received the same attention as in colonial history. In Brazil, Cristiana Couto, Daisy de Camargo and João Luiz Máximo da Silva are among the few scholars who have devoted studies to issues concerning food in the nineteenth century. Couto’s book examines the role of nutrition and foodstuffs in the European medical theories that circulated in the country between 1822 and 1889 when Brazil was an independent state. The central concern of the book is to 2 Rafaela BASSO, A cultura alimentar paulista [Paulista’s Food Culture] (São Paulo, 2015). 3 Gregorio SALDARRIAGA, “El trigo en el Nuevo Reino de Granada, siglos XVI y XVII: imposición de un eje alimentario entre las poblaciones indígenas” [Wheat in the New Kingdom of Granada, 16th and 17th centuries: Imposition of a food axis among aboriginal populations]. In Diana Bonnet (ed.), Una obra para la Historia: Homenaje a Germán Colmenares (Bogotá, 2015), pp. 57–84. 4 Óscar Eduardo RUEDA PIMIENTO, “Consideraciones en torno a la alimentación en la expedición de Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada al interior de Colombia (1536–1537). Aportes para una antropología del asco” [Considerations about feeding in the conquest expedition led by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada into the interior of Colombia (1536-1537). Contributions to the anthropological studies of disgust], Boletín de Antropología, vol. 30, no. 49 (2015), pp. 98–119. 5 Juan MARTÍNEZ BORRERO, “‘Este es el mejor asiento del mundo’. La alimentación en los Andes: el caso de Santa Ana de las Aguas de Cuenca entre 1557 y 1607” [‘The Best Place in the World’. Food in the Andes: Santa Ana de las Aguas, 1557-1607], Retornos. Revista de Historia y Ciencias Sociales, no. 13 (2013), pp. 43–65; Id., “Dulcísima y sin fastidio: la alimentación cuencana en el siglo XVIII entrevista desde los textos y las imágenes” [Dulcísima y sin fastidio: Food in Cuenca in the Eighteenth Century studied from Texts and Images], Revista Pucara, no. 26 (2015), pp. 115–133. Recent Trends in Food History Research in Ibero-America: 2014-2016 287 understand to what extent those theories were related to or influenced the knowledge presented in the cookery books of the period.6 In Máximo da Silva’s article, the historian seeks to identify transformations in urban and domestic spaces and analyzes how these changes are related to food consumption. He is particularly interested in the impact of new technologies (such as the introduction of the gas oven) and sanitary theories during the nineteenth century.7 Finally, there is the book by Daisy de Camargo which examines the city of São Paulo during its exceptional population growth from the 1860s to 1920s – a period marked by urbanization, industrialization and the arrival of new immigrant groups and their encounter with locals. Camargo, using historical sources, investigates the alcohol consumption in the city mapping social groups, behaviors and places.8 Four studies adopting a more sociological or socio-historical approach can also be singled out. First of all, the article by Joel Vargas Domínguez, published in 2014, focuses on Mexico’s participation in the United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture and shows how Mexican food policies were adapted to the existent economic policies and parameters suggested by international bodies.9 The other three studies are concerned with culinary discourse and practices in contemporary Brazil. Maria Henriqueta Gimenes Minasse has written a book in which she presents a case study based on a meat dish from a specific region in southern Brazil, the “Barreado”, and investigates the local and European traditions involved in its preparation and consumption. She is also interested in studying the process of labeling the dish as a typical manifestation of that region and its appropriation by the tourist industry.10 Leila Algranti and Wanessa Asfora have examined the role of the reference work História da Alimentação no Brasil by Luis da Câmara Cascudo in structuring a discourse on Brazilian culinary traditions and cuisine.11 Finally, Carlos Alberto Dória offers a revised and enlarged version of his 6 Cristiana COUTO, Alimentação no Brasil Imperial [Food in Imperial Brazil] (São Paulo, 2015). 7 João Luiz MAXIMO DA SILVA, “Alimentação e transformações urbanas em São Paulo no século XIX” [Food and Urban Transformations in São Paulo in the Nineteenth Century], Almanack, no. 7 (2014), pp. 81–94. Available at http://www.almanack.unifesp.br/index.php/almanack/article/ view/1051 8 Daisy de CAMARGO, Alegrias engarrafadas. Os álcoois e a embriaguez na cidade de São Paulo no final do século XIX e começo do XX [Bottled Happiness, Alcohol and Drunkenness in the City of São Paulo at the end of nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century] (São Paulo, 2012). 9 Joel VARGAS DOMÍNGUEZ, “Entre la nación y el mundo: la nutrición en México en la Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre alimentación de 1943” [Between the Nation and the World: Nutrition in Mexico during the United Nations Conference on Food in 1943]. In Fernando Remedi and Mario Barbosa (eds). Cuestión social, políticas sociales y construcción del estado social en América Latina, siglo XX (Córdoba, México, 2014), pp. 175–192. 10 Maria Henriqueta Gimenes MINASSE, Cozinhando a Tradição: festa, cultura, história e turismo no litoral paranaense [Cooking Tradition: Feast, Culture, History and Tourism along Parana’s Coast] (Curitiba, 2013). 11 Leila MEZAN ALGRANTI, Wanessa ASFORA, “Luís da Câmara Cascudo e a ementa portuguesa: a contribuição de Portugal na construção do pensamento sobre a cozinha brasileira” [Luís da Câmara 288 Wanessa Asfora and Gregorio Saldarriaga thought-provoking and innovative analysis of the complex process of the formation of Brazilian culinary culture, problematizing the traditional interpretation proposed by the aforementioned Luis da Câmara Cascudo and Gilberto Freyre.12 A group of works produced by Ibero-American scholars in the last three years have used different timeframes and thematics to explore more general problems relating to food history. Firstly, the book arising from the First Meeting on Luso-Brazilian Food Heritage held at the University of Coimbra in 2014 includes a study by Regina Bustamante on food representation in a Roman-African mosaic depiction of xenia and another by Irene Macedo on cultural aspects of breastfeeding in Brazil.13 Secondly, the volume by Wanessa Asfora devoted to the famous cookbook attributed to Apicius examines the text in the historical context of its early medieval manuscript transmission.14 Finally there is an article on historiography published by Rafaella Basso in which she discusses the role of the Annales School in the consolidation of food studies as a field of research for historians.15 If, on the one hand, the number of books and individual articles on food history published in Ibero-America is not as extensive as in other parts of the world, on the other, the number of special issues (or dossiers) devoted to food, history and culture published in scientific journals is certainly noteworthy. As far as it was possible to ascertain, seven dossiers were published between 2014 and 2016 in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. It seems important to remark that most Ibero-American journals are Open Access, therefore all the articles from the dossiers mentioned below can be easily found and read. In 2014, Anales de Antropologia published Dossier Cultura y alimentación en México [Culture and Food in Mexico]. The series of articles ranging from colonial times to contemporary Mexico brings together varied subjects (e.g., medicine, cacao, maize and zooarchaeology) in which food plays a central role.16 In Colombia, the Dossier Cultura, comida e política [Cuture, Food Cascudo and the Portuguese ementa: The Contribution of Portugal in Structuring a Reflection on Brazilian Cuisine], in Carmen SOARES, Irene MACEDO, Ensaios sobre o patrimônio alimentar luso-brasileiro [Studies on Luso-Brazilian Food Heritage] (Coimbra/São Paulo, 2014), pp. 253–273. 12 Carlos Alberto DORIA, A formação da culinária brasileira. Escritos sobre a cozinha inzoneira [The Formation of Brazilian Cooking. Writings on the mischievous cuisine] (São Paulo, 2014). 13 Carmen SOARES, Irene MACEDO, Ensaios sobre o patrimônio alimentar luso-brasileiro [Studies on Luso-Brazilian Heritage] (Coimbra/São Paulo, 2014). Available at: https://digitalis.uc.pt/ pt-pt/livro/ensaios_sobre_património_alimentar_luso_brasileiro 14 Wanessa ASFORA, Apício. História da incorporação de um livro de cozinha na Alta Idade Média [Apicius. History of the Incorporation of a Cookery Book in the Early Middle Ages (São Paulo, 2014). 15 Rafaella BASSO, “O lugar da alimentação nos estudos históricos da escola dos Annales” [The Place of Food in the Historical studies of the Annales School], Helikon, vol. 2, no. 3 (2015), pp. 50–63. Available at: www2.pucpr.br/reol/index.php/helikon?dd99=pdf&dd1=15299. 16 Dossier Cultura y alimentación en México. Anales de Antropología. Vol. 48, no. 1 (2014). Available at: http://www.revistas.unam.mx/index.php/antropologia/issue/view/3565/showToc%20 Recent Trends in Food History Research in Ibero-America: 2014-2016 289 and Politics] was published in Revista Colombiana de Antropología and edited by the anthropologist Juana Camacho. The dossier contains seven articles on Argentina, Colombia, Peru and Mexico. Politics is understood in a broad sense, since it covers subjects that span from product regulations to the way in which power is manifested in day-to-day conflicts around food.17 In 2015, a Dossier História da Alimentação [Dossier Food History] was published in Revista Helikon, a history journal. The dossier brings together seven articles by Brazilian and Portuguese researchers on very different topics related to food history (the Renaissance wedding banquet; the crafts of a pastry-cook in Portugal and Minas Gerais; cooking books and eating habits in Curitiba; Brazilian food habits during the Second World War; and a survey of doctoral and master dissertations produced at the Universidade Federal do Paraná between 1997 and 2014) and to the anthropology of food (in Bahia).18 In the same year, a special issue entitled Diálogos no campo da Antropologia da Alimentação [Dialogues in the Field of Food Anthropology] was published in a journal devoted to nutrition and health. The issue examines commensality and other forms of food-related sociability from the perspective of food anthropology. It contains articles covering contemporary food problems concerning different populations ranging from the Brazilian indigenous groups kariri-xocó and guarani-mbya to the inhabitants of urbanized cities in Spain, Argentina and Brazil.19 Also in 2015, Revista Tessituras, a journal on anthropology and archaeology, presented a special issue on Comida para pensar [Food for Thought] edited and introduced by the sociologist Janine Collaço, and the anthropologists Renata Menasche and Mártin César Tempass. The authors raise a myriad of different questions, such as the impact of so-called gastronomic tourism, new forms of family-based agricultural systems in Spain, and change and continuity in the food habits of a variety of social groups in Argentina and Brazil.20 Another Brazilian journal, Sociedade e Cultura, published a dossier entitled Comida e Cultura [Food and Culture], also edited by Janine Collaço and Renata Menasche. In it, there are articles covering issues on food and indigenous populations in Brazil, and on migrations and immigration and their impact/effect on food habits in Argentina and Spain.21 17 Dossier Cultura, comida y política. Revista Colombiana de Antropología, Instituto Colombiano de Antropología e Historia, vol. 50, no. 2 (2014). Available at: http://www.icanh.gov.co/ index.php?idcategoria=10365 18 Dossier História da Alimentação. Revista Helikon, Universidade Federal do Paraná, vol. 2, no. 4 (2015). Available at: http://www2.pucpr.br/reol/pb/index.php/helikon. 19 Dossier Diálogos no campo da Antropologia da Alimentação, Revista Demetra, Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro, vol. 10, no. 4 (2015). Available at: http://www.e-publicacoes. uerj/br/index.php/demetra/issue/view/938#.V5YJeBTDMVU 20 Dossier Comida para pensar, Revista Tessituras, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, vol. 3, no. 2 (2015). Available at: https://periodicos.ufpel.edu.br/ojs2/index.php/tessituras/issue/view/450/ showToc 21 Dossier Comida e Cultura, Sociedade e Cultura. Universidade de Goiás, vol. 18, no. 1 (2015). Available at: https://www.revistas.ufg.br/fchf/issue/view/1718/showToc 290 Wanessa Asfora and Gregorio Saldarriaga In 2016, the history journal Varia Historia published Dossier culturas alimentares, práticas e artefactos [Food Cultures, Practices and Artifacts], a collection of five articles drawing on periods ranging from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century and covering Spanish and Portuguese America.22 Historical aspects of food culture appear as a central theme in the scientific events held over the last two years. In Brazil, some examples include specific sessions at traditional history conferences, such as the State of São Paulo Historical Association (Anpuh-SP, Santos, 2014 and Assis, 2016), which were devoted to presentations on the spaces of food consumption (production, consumption and discard) and on food history theory, objects and methods, respectively.23 There were also sessions at the National Symposium of Cultural History (writing food history: space, time and forms of sociability in the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries – São Paulo, 2014)24 and at the Third Seminar on History and Culture (culture, food and gender – Uberlândia, 2015).25 In terms of specific meetings on food history, the initiatives of the DIAITA project on Lusophone Heritage involving both Brazilians and Portuguese researchers should be noted.26 This resulted in the second Luso-Brazilian Colloquium on Food History (Curitiba, 2014) and the meeting “Comer e ser: Patrimônio Material e Imaterial da Alimentação” [Food and Being: Material and Immaterial Food Heritage] (Belo Horizonte, 2016) organized by the group of investigators in History of Science at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.27 To conclude, we would like to draw attention to a particular situation regarding the study of the history of food in Ibero-American academia. Although a chair or a department of Food History or Food Studies does not officially exist at any Ibero-American university, the number of researchers interested in the subject appears to rise every year. In fact, almost all the books (and even some articles) mentioned in this review have grown out of MPhil and PhD dissertations in History or Social Sciences. The gap between the traditional academic structures and the demand for space within them to allocate research on food history constitutes a (difficult) reality to be better understood and a problem to be solved. 22 Dossier Culturas alimentares, práticas e artefatos, Varia Historia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerias, vol. 32, no. 58 (2016). Available at: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_ arttext&pid=S0104-87752016000100015 23 http://www.encontro2014.sp.anpuh.org/simposio/view?ID_SIMPOSIO=1791; http://www. encontro2016.sp.anpuh.org 24 http://gthistoriacultural.com.br/VIIsimposio/resumos/Maria%20Cecilia%20Barreto%20 Amorim%20Pilla%20&%20Isabel%20Drumond%20Braga.pdf 25 http://www.inhis.ufu.br/node/781 26 http://www.uc.pt/en/iii/research_centers/CECH/projetos/diaita 27 http://plataforma9.com/congresso/coloquio-internacional-comer-e-ser-patrimonio-material-eimaterial-da-alimentacao/