Detailed notes on Food and Culture in Spain

Food & Culture in Spain - Madrid Fall 2024

References

  • Zhen, W. (2019). Food Studies: A Hands-On Guide. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 119-179.
  • Pretty, “Can Ecological Agriculture Feed Nine Billion People?”
  • Fernández Guadaño, "El éxito del turismo gastronómico".
  • Parra, “La singularidad mayoritaria: cómo las mujeres han revolucionado la gastronomía española”

Food and Social/Cultural Aspects

  • Food provides information about social and cultural aspects.
  • Environmental, biological, and geographical factors condition what we eat and how we cook.
  • Food relates to social and individual identity, including:
    • Who one is
    • Where they’re from
    • Gender
    • Kinship
    • Ethnicity
  • Food can shape these aspects.
  • Family meals promote positive socialization.
  • Division of roles can reflect gender inequity.
  • Ethnic borders are defined through food: "us" vs. "them".

Food Trends

  • Food culture is dynamic.
  • Questions to consider:
    • Are family meals disappearing?
    • Are family rituals always positive?
    • Are family meals an aspirational fantasy or a monolithic concept?
    • What about heteronormative gendered expectations?
  • Food diversity acceptance vs. acceptance of ethnic groups themselves (the term "Columbusing").
  • How migrants' food changes once they are "domesticated".

Food as Communication

  • Food is not just about survival; it communicates about:
    • Us
    • Our society
    • Our history
    • Our environment
    • Our ideas
  • Food eaten in a place relates to many aspects, and its purpose is not always as simple as it seems.
  • Example: the "bocadillo de calamares" in Madrid.

Food and Culture

  • Culture definition (Edward Tylor, 1871): Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.
  • Culture definition (Kroeber & Kluckhohn, 1952): Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behaviour acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiments in artefacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e. historical derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values, culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, on the other as conditioning elements of further action.
  • Culture definition (UNESCO, 2001): Culture is the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group, that encompasses, not only art and literature, but lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs.

Food Tourism Boom

  • Global Culinary Tourism Market:
    • Market Size: 4.124.12 Billion USD
    • Global market CAGR (2024-2029): 17.8217.82
    • Historical Data Base Year: 2019
    • Forecast Year: 2029
  • Factors influencing holiday destination choices:
    • Gen Z: 33.6%33.6\%
    • Gen Y (Millennials): 26.5%26.5\%
    • Gen X: 33.5%33.5\%
    • Baby Boomers: 19.1%19.1\%
    • Famous/popular destination in terms of food/drinks.

Risks of Food Tourism

  • Risk of becoming a tourist product.
  • Examples given: paella, showing flamenco dresses, seafood.

Protecting Food Heritage

  • UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list includes food festivals, celebrations, rare cuisines, and important dishes linked to cultural identity (e.g., French, Mexican, and Mediterranean cuisines).
  • Spain: Ley 10/2015, de 26 de mayo, para la salvaguardia del Patrimonio Cultural Inmaterial; article 2.
    • Includes uses, representations, expressions, knowledge, and techniques recognized by communities as part of their cultural heritage.
    • Specifically mentions: gastronomy, culinary preparations, and food.

Sustainable Food Tourism Planning

  • Recommendations for sustainable gastronomy tourism:
    • Promote transparent and participatory governance.
    • Recognize local gastronomy as cultural heritage.
    • Improve venues and systems for gastronomy tourists.
    • Foster creation of innovative and distinctive gastronomy tourism experiences.
    • Promote competitiveness through excellence, knowledge, talent management, innovation, and cooperation.
    • Develop mechanisms for gastronomy tourism intelligence.
    • Develop an authentic storyline for gastronomic branding.
    • Adopt a plan to promote and support gastronomy tourism marketing.
    • Maximize technology as a driver for developing gastronomy tourism.
    • Promote gastronomy tourism as a tool for sustainability and contributions to the SDGs.

Why Food Sustainability Matters

  • Enabling sustainable food systems.

Globalization Phenomenon

  • Is it old or new?
  • Cross-border food exchanges since early civilizations.
  • Exchange boom during the "Age of Exploration" (XVIth-XIXth Centuries), including the Columbian Exchange.
  • Modern jet age and refrigerated shipping enable food preservation over longer distances.

Consequences of Globalization

  • Homogenization.
  • Glocalization.
    • Examples: Kentucky Fried Chicken in Morocco offers a special Ramadan diner/sohour meal and McVeggie, McAlooTikki.
    • KFC in Morocco offers a Ramadan deal with 15 pieces of chicken, 5 orange juices, large fruit salad, and 5 pieces of bread for 250 DH.
  • Global North/South Divide - Inequity
  • (Lack of) Access to food
  • Dependence
  • Food sovereignty – autonomy, control, democratic participation, agency
  • Lifestyle diseases
  • Loss of local/indigenous knowledge & crop diversity (high-tech farming & agribusiness)
  • Climate Change.

Solutions

*To Good To Go:
* https://www.toogoodtogo.com/
*Fair Trade:
* https://info.fairtrade.net/
*Via Campesina
* https://viacampesina.org/en/
*Slow Food
* https://www.slowfood.com/

Hands-On Exercise

  1. Look at food labels in supermarkets and types of restaurants.
  2. Identify the country of origin, distributor, packaging location, business characteristics (national, international, franchise), and types of food sold.
  3. Bring results and conclusions back to the classroom.

Next Stop: The Mediterranean Diet

  • UNESCO, The Mediterranean Diet
  • Report Serra-Majem et al, "Nutritional and Cultural Aspects of the Mediterranean Diet"
  • Helstosky, Food Culture in the Mediterranean, pp. 25-27
  • Sevilla, Delicioso: A History of Food in Spain, pp. 24-25
  • Roden, The Food of Spain: A Celebration, pp. 94-97
  • Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medioambiente, Aceite de Oliva Virgen Extra. El aceite pone el sabor.