El consumo de proteínas animales en Barcelona entre las décadas de 1830 y 1930: evolución y factores condicionantes

Abstract

RESUMENEn este artículo se reconstruye el consumo de proteínas animales en la ciudad de Barcelona entre las décadas de 1830 y 1930, centrando la atención en dos cuestiones: (a) las circunstancias que propiciaron su expansión; y (b) los diferentes factores que alteraron su composición.Se discuten, así, las relaciones de tales procesos con los cambios en la renta, las innovaciones tecnológicas, los progresos científicos y las condiciones de vida en las ciudades, y se plantean principalmente dos conclusiones. La primera es que las relaciones entre ingresos y alimentación han variado en el tiempo por la incidencia de las demás variables citadas. La segunda estriba en que, por este mismo motivo, no se pueden utilizar conceptos como el de la elasticidad de la demanda respecto de la renta para explicar la evolución del consumo. ABSTRACTThis article reconstructs the consumption of animal proteins in the city of Barcelona from the 1830s to the 1930s, focusing on: (a) the circumstances that favoured the expansion of this consumption; and (b) the factors accounting for its changing internal structure. It is considered the influence of four variables: income changes, technological innovations, scientific progress, and living conditions in urban environments. Two main conclusions are proposed. First, the relation between income and consumption has varied overtime, due to the increasing weight of the other variables included in the study. Second, as a consequence of that, concepts such as income elasticity of demand cannot be used to account for the evolution of consumption.

Portuguese living standards, 1720–1980, in European comparison: heights, income, and human capital1

“…Southern Europe is represented by a Barcelona series until the first half of the nineteenth century, then by Madrid. Sources: Picazo, Oligarquía urbana ; Nos and Andreu, ‘Consumo’, p. 22; Martinez Vara, ‘Una estimación’, p. 103; Feliu, Precios y salaries , pp. 23–9; Nogués Marco, ‘Análises’, pp.…”

Unravelling the nutritional transition in Spain: From meat shortages to excess (1958–1990)

“…Therefore, although quantitative information is not provided between 1964 and 1980, this study prioritises structural changes over cyclical ones. In fact, as argued by Nicolau and Pujol Andreu (2005), significant changes in societies' diets should be studied over the long term, as preferences do not change from one year to another due to their influence by social and technological changes. Although the use of a single database as the foundation of the entire study may imply the existence of biases due to possible methodological errors of the source (Díaz-Méndez et al, 2005), the trends (though not the exact values) in meat consumption presented in the surveys during the study period are similar to those of other sources such as the Food Consumption Panel (from 1987 onwards), thus demonstrating the robustness and reliability of the surveys.…”

“…As shown in Tables 11 and Table A1 in the Supplementary Material, beef consumption is historically linked to urban areas (Nicolau and Pujol Andreu, 2005;Martinelli Lasheras, 2009: 35;Gil Roig, Angulo Garijo and Gracia Royo, 1998: 114). Along with chicken, the consumption of beef was almost 3 times higher in urban areas than in rural areas.…”

“…In turn, prices were shaped by institutional variables, based on the ease with which the regime allowed foreign companies in these sectors to establish themselves in Spain. Other authors, such as Pujol Andreu (2005 and2011) or Pujol Andreu and Cussó Segura (2014), consider that, besides income and prices, other variables such as preferences, medical advances, or technological innovations also played an essential role in the shift in diets. In this work, I complement the aforementioned literature on determinants of livestock product consumption, attempting to provide a micro, detailed, and quantitative perspective.…”

Changes in food consumption from an agricultural-based economy to industrialisation: Uruguay (1900–70)

“…Most of the research about nutrition transition, from a historical perspective, has focused on European countries (Popkin, 1993; Grigg, 1995; Serrano and Pinilla, 2011; Pujol and Cussó, 2014, Nicolau and Pujol, 2005). According to the literature, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean countries showed different experiences (Pujol and Cussó, 2014).…”