Paper short abstract:

This paper aims to show the politicality of home-made food in a Polish homestead, where the production of pork meats upholds farmers identity connected with commensality and home. With exchange of pork products, these meanings travel to other cities and countries extending with it the idea of home.

Paper long abstract:

This paper aims to show the politicality of home-made food based on a case study of a homestead in Eastern Poland. There, the production of pork meats can be read as a way of upholding rural/farmers identity. This identity is based on the complementarity of gender roles within the rural home and homestead, where work is shared to produce the most valued consumption items in the community - pork meats. These are exchanged within the family and community carrying the notions of home and locality beyond the local village. Meat products become symbolic containers of meanings connected with commensality, local identity and home, meanings which travel to family members migrating to other Polish cities, and other countries. At the same time, this identity connected with home production and the resulting social ties are challenged by political decisions linked with the restrictions in international trade with Russia, EU safety regulations or the threat of AFS.