Flavors and knowledge in the cooking and eating practices on students of the School of Nutrition, Córdoba

Abstract

Cooking and eating practices (CEP) have a double function: vital biological and essential social functions. Flavor and knowledge constitute subjective dimensions that shape such social actions. The culturally learned flavor refers to one or more meanings, expressing a particular way of knowing / "savoring" the world. Evoke flavors of our life story, inevitably involves knowledge and vice versa. The aim of this work was to recognize the most significant flavors and knowledge on advanced students of the School of Nutrition (FCM-UNC) when conducting their CEP (2018-2019). 

The study follows from a qualitative research process, framed in the interpretive paradigm and the stream of developmentalism thinking. We conducted a literary workshop of four meetings, during the month of May 2019. For the analysis we rely on the grounded theory.

From the stories we observed that the significant flavors come from food and dishes linked to their culinary references (RC). These were classified into two types: those associated with parenting (grandparents, great-grandmothers, mothers, fathers), from whom the flavors (and knowledge) of childhood and family come from; and those outside the family nucleus - even from different cultures - that brought new flavors, therefore, also knowledge: exchanges with people from other countries and college friends. Part of the knowledge related to their CEP comes from all of them. Participants perceived two types of knowledge in permanent tension: those learned by ‘experience’ and those learned by ‘study’. The first one, related to ‘ancestral’, ‘primary’ knowledge, linked to ‘the ground'; they are associated with unprocessed foods obtained from family gardens, or preparations that give ‘affection', ‘love’, ‘attention’: gnocchi or chicken with rice. The latter ones are associated with institutional, methodical and formally learned knowledge. These include the cuisine ‘gourmet’, ‘exotic’ and ‘scientific’ (dishes such as sushi, Thai rice or gluten-free cake). 

The way they find to overcome the tensions between the two knowledges is to combine some of its elements in the preparation of a knowledge and a flavor of its own. Hence, the importance of generating instances of observation and reflection that develop from the personal to the professional levels.