Rich man's food, poor man's food in "The mansions and the shanties": A narrative review of the book written by Gilberto Freyre

Abstract

A B S T R A C TThis article aims to perform a narrative review of the book "The mansions and the shanties" written by the Brazilian sociologist Gilberto Freyre, published for the first time in 1936. The study analyzed Gilberto Freyre's contribution to the process of interpreting the formation and modification of the eating habits and patterns of the Brazilian society. The analysis is limited to a review, from a dietician's perspective, of text clippings where Freyre seeks to reconstruct and interpret the process of formation and modification of eating habits and patterns in the context of a patriarchal society. The text will try to answer the questions: what, how much, how, when, where, and with whom were the dwellers of mansions and shanties eating? Comparison of the eating habits of the rural patriarchal society with those of the emerging urban patriarchal society has shown Freyre's clear trend of aversion to the "Europeanization" of eating habits and his affection for traditional culinary values. The new eating habits of mansions and plantation houses were portrayed with disdain, denoting an author who remained stuck to the culinary traditions of a rural patriarchal society, to taste memories, especially of the sweets, cakes, and desserts created, adapted, and savored in Pernambuco state sugar mills.Keywords: Brazilian society. Food habits. Literature. Review. R E S U M O O presente artigo tem por objetivo realizar uma revisão narrativa do livro "Sobrados e mucambos", escrito pelo sociólogo pernambucano Gilberto Freyre, com primeira edição publicada em 1936. Procurou-se analisar a contribuição do autor no processo de interpretação da formação e modificação dos hábitos e padrões alimentares I N T R O D U C T I O NThe sociologist from Pernambuco state, Gilberto Freire (1900Freire ( -1987, has been one of the most studied Brazilian authors in Brazil 1-7 and abroad [8][9][10][11] . His entire work, especially the books published in the 1930s, namely "The masters and the slaves" 12 and "The mansions and the shanties" 13 , assemble precious records of the formation of the eating habits and patterns of the Brazilian society, leading us to habitually include this author in the list of scholars involved in the history of the constitution of the nutrition science field in Brazil 2 .The classic "The masters and the slaves" 12 , published for the first time in 1933, had many successive editions in Brazil and abroad 2 , making Freyre an internationally-known author [8][9][10][11] . In 2013 the 52 th edition celebrated the 80 years of the first edition 14 , demonstrating how updated and alluring this octogenarian book seems to remain as it continues to raise interest and debate nowadays 6,[9][10][11]15 .Meanwhile, according to Freyre himself, "The mansions and the shanties" 13 , published for the first time in 1936, characterizes the ongoing attempt to reconstruct and interpret the social history of the Brazilian society that began in "The masters and the slaves" 12. Less famous and known than "The masters and the slaves"...

The concept of cooking skills: A review with contributions to the scientific debate

“…Inventory of food practises such as authentic, national and traditional cooking legacy, as well as black, indigenous, and Portuguese miscegenation -Brazil a [26][27][28][29][30][31].…”

“…In his 1926 "Manifesto Regionalista" ("Regionalist Manifesto") Gilberto Freyre called attention to the threats of deprivation of regional cooking characteristics, and he proposed some strategies to value the aesthetics and tradition in Northeastern cooking for the first time in the country [26,27].…”

“…According to these works, such habits were products of food syncretism of Brazilian indigenous cooking (culinary), as well as of black African and white Portuguese, highlighting the ethnocultural focus on Brazilian regional cooking identity (authentic Brazilian cuisine). Thus, the word cooking, highlighted by Freyre in his works, was used as an element for defining food culture [26][27][28][29][30][31].…”