Nutritional, social, and significant importance of the community dining room "Papa Francisco" in the community of the Centro neighborhood of Cordoba, Argentina.

Abstract

The figure of the community dining room was consolidated after the food crisis of 2000-2001. It plays a significant role in the feeding of economically and socially vulnerable sectors; it is a space in which the exercise of the right to food and food security is at stake. Likewise, food is recognized as a moment of construction of ideals, identities and, therefore, of differentiation. For this reason, we seek to analyze the representations and imaginary meanings given by the subjects of Barrio Centro to the "Papa Francisco" dining room and the contribution of energy, macro and micronutrients, given by the food provided therein, as well as its representativeness in the daily values ingested by people.

A descriptive, cross-sectional, observational study was carried out with a qualitative-quantitative methodology. The universe consisted of all the people attending the dining room and the sample consisted of people over 18 years of age who met the inclusion criteria. Emphasis was placed on the qualitative aspect and the in-depth interviews were analyzed by means of eidetic phenomenology. The quantitative aspect focused on describing the energetic-nutritional composition of the rations, their percentage contribution to the diet of the interviewees and their adequacy to the recommendations. This information was collected through a 24-hour reminder, dietary record and ration weighing, which, together with a guide of visual food models, allowed the interviewee to specify his consumption in home measurements and then quantify the nutrients using SARA software.

In the lives of the subjects, the dining room means inclusion, a measure to satisfy affective and nutritional needs, a place for gathering and containment. It provides 62.07% of energy, 64.89% of proteins, 61.3% of lipids, 62% of carbohydrates, 62% of minerals and 73.2% of vitamins, which means that without the dining room it would be impossible to comply with the nutritional recommendations.

The dining room was presented as an alimentary-nutritional need and also as an affective and belonging need, which allows coping with daily difficulties and the construction of identities. Feeding, understood as a biological and bonding need, requires addressing these spaces with integral food-nutritional and political approaches.