Paper short abstract:

Inspired by Roland Barthes, the paper tracks the changing mythologies of milk and wine in Sweden. The nutritional arguments posed by advocates for milk and wine demonstrate how views of health, national identity and gender are intertwined in the establishment of new drinking habits.

Paper long abstract:

When Roland Barthes wrote about the symbolic qualities of milk and wine in "Mythologies" (1957), he regarded wine and milk as opposite substances, both with plastic power enabling to work as myths. The French wine had its opposite in the Dutch milk. He could have used Swedish instead of Dutch; the myth of the white fluid creating health, progress and national identity was similar in most Northern European countries. As it turned out, the myths were nothing but static. At least not in Sweden. Milk, not long ago considered as the most nutritious food and the regular drink on dinner tables and school canteens has been replaced by other beverages. Wine consumption, on the other hand, is more than 40 times as high as in the 1950s.

Following Barthes, the paper deals with the changing significance of the mythologies of milk and wine and study how views of health, national identity and gender are intertwined in the establishment of new practices. At the centre of the analysis are the nutritional arguments posed by advocates for both milk and wine.

Based on material from the folk life archives, interviews, and media debates, the article discusses how nutritional aspects have been used during the transformation of drinking habits during the 20th and 21st century.

Paper short abstract:

Concepts such as quality, taste or health can be understood as changing and dynamic social constructs, but are also "objective" for social actors in their world-making activities. The various versions of "wine" are the result of a dynamic process whereby different actors define its qualities.

Paper long abstract:

In Spain, the wine industry represents 1% of GDP. Spain is the country with more vine hectares and the third largest producer by volume and worldwide leader in exports. However, Spain sells the cheapest wine worldwide on average and has reduced its overall consumption in an expanding market.

The plummeting of wine consumption shows the loss of its pre-eminence as a food and cultural basis, in parallel to the abandonment of artisan production without "quality" control. Since 1990 the Denominations of Origin have been generalized and the origin certification associated with quality has been associated to certain organoleptic properties such as grape type, color, volatile, sulfur or alcohol grade. This transformation has generally involved mechanization in the vineyard and winery, as well as sanitation. The process of sanitization raises the question of the loss of probiotic capacity of wine, fermented food and almost exclusive in Mediterranean cultures. But it also shows the difficulty for the consumer to make decisions about health in a context of generalized epistemic uncertainty, and confusion around labeling.

Is it possible to affirm that any type of wine independently of its productive process is healthy? Are health taken into account in the certifications of wine quality?

Starting from a two-year field work with key actors in the Spanish wine world, this paper propose a series of reflections on these issues, highlighting the general absence of research and/or certifications that relate quality and health, despite the growing pressure from alternative producers and consumers in that direction.

Paper short abstract:

The paper analyses the tradition of using colostrum in Estonian cuisine on the basis of cookbooks, archival sources and fieldwork materials. How have the practices of using colostrum and meanings of it changed? Is it possible to revive the tradition?

Paper long abstract:

Making dishes out of colostrum is an old tradition in Estonia. Being in the menu of Estonian and Swedish-speaking peasants as well as Baltic German elites, it was used for cooking throughout Estonia. Currently, that knowledge and skills have almost disappeared. Very few families keep cows of their own nowadays.

For many centuries, the productivity of cows was low and milk was available only seasonally. The first milk produced by a cow in spring after giving birth was considered very special. The development of livestock husbandry at the end of the 19th century led to a new level of milk production. Unlike ordinary milk, which went for sale, colostrum remained for the family's own consumption. People were taught to use this nutritious raw material in diverse ways. During the Soviet times, the availability of colostrum and its use as a food began to decrease.

Today, the benefits of colostrum are much talked about. Yet, due to Estonian health regulations, it is difficult to sell it. It is easier to buy colostrum health products in the pharmacies and health shops rather than buy colostrum straight from a farm. For some people, colostrum awakes nostalgic memories of childhood; for the others, it seems disgusting or controversial.

In this paper, I will analyse the development of the tradition of using colostrum in Estonia on the basis of cookbooks, archival sources and fieldwork materials. How have the practices of using colostrum and meanings of it changed? Is it possible to revive the tradition?

Paper short abstract:

Modes for healthy diets appeared at the time of XIX century together with the development of medical science. They became an everyday practice since XX century. Healing fasts are part of them. A hunger "sacralization" is a common denominator of their motivation.

Paper long abstract:

Healthy diets have became an everyday practice since XX century entering to the public and scientific discourse. Human communities remain with them in a lively both carnal and spiritual interaction. Healing posts are special diets in which a hunger "sacralization" is a common denominator of their motivations. So called Daniel's Fast is the most popular diet based on fast in Poland. It has been compiled by doctor Ewa Dąbrowska. It combines with a religious attitude the restriction of food to a strict vegetable diet. This double effect has been described by its participants in many public forums which I' am studying for few years. Dr. Dąbrowska appears to be a follower of the Catholic approach to fasting as a form of carnal and spiritual purification. Moreover, despite the Polish Church's critical relation to many fashionable diets, Daniel's Fast seems to be supported by the Church. However, the Catholic approach has its predecessors, too. Ethnographers show that the concept of a sacralizing food taboo is much older. We can view it as one of the long-standing structures rooted in human culture. In this paper I want to describe wide historical and ethnographic context of Daniel's Post in contemporary Poland as an example of an approach to the problem of healthy nutrition.

Paper short abstract:

In this paper, I would like to present a comparative analysis of public discourses on healthy food in times of socialist regime and contemporary as opposed to grassroots attitudes and opinions expressed in sociological interviews in both times.

Paper long abstract:

Health is currently one of the basic categories when talking about the proper food. However, what "healthy food" means to people is not always unambiguous and obvious. Different discourses, various systems of knowledge, long-established traditions and taken for granted practices contradict and compete with each other when inconsistent ideas and instructions about what makes food healthy are formulated.

In this paper, I would like to present a comparative analysis of public discourses on healthy food in times of socialist regime and contemporary as opposed to grassroots attitudes and opinions expressed in sociological interviews in both times. These narratives show how the ideas about healthy food reflect, on the one hand, different socio-demographic habituses and on the other hand, how they are reflexively used to shape new lifestyles, which often become a basis of identity formation.

Paper short abstract:

An ongoing research about food insecurity and daily life precarization in Spain has focused on medical intervention. Recent increase of social inequalities brought up some limitations on diet and food consumption prescriptions for the overweighed population, mostly belonging to the lower class.

Paper long abstract:

The data obtained in our research on precariousness, food and health point out the link between precariousness and obesity. A significant percentage of people who suffer from precariousness are overweight or obese (49.2% of the unemployed population was overweight in 2014, according to the Catalan Health Survey).

Focusing on health professionals' perspective, we have noted that their intervention about food is based on advices about healthy diet, physical activity, and daily life practices. Even if most interviewed nurses and doctors from public health centres are aware of social and economic situation of their patients, they identify limitations in approaching social inequalities affecting health. On the other hand, some patients complained about being enable to carry on with their medical prescriptions about diet, food consumption and physical activity because of their social and economic situation (low income, precarious work, family responsibilities). All these aspects indirectly affect the quality and success of health intervention aimed to reduce overweight, in a context where food insecurity is mostly suffered by lower class people.

Paper short abstract:

The "neighborhood mothers" have migrational experience and work as multipliers for health and bilingual education in Berlin. Representations of healthy eating evolve throughout this activity in the project. Ways of supporting their use of kitchen remedies as self-help strategy will be proposed.

Paper long abstract:

The ethnographic analysis of my MA was on the cognitive, phenomenological and praxeological processes of change in the representation of "healthy eating" through activity in the project Stadtteilmütter in Neukölln (En: "neighborhood mothers in Neukölln"). District mothers with migrational experience are trained for five months on ten topics concerning pre-school development, bilingual education and health care. They enrich the content with their own experience. Then they act as multipliers for same language speaking families in a series of home and school visits. The families consider the highest increase in learning on the topic of healthy nutrition.

The food culture of the home country and Ramadan are mostly considered as healthy. Helplessness has often been expressed regarding the consumption of sugary products among actual children. There is a general awareness on the culturally varying representation of overweight. It was often linked to depression and immobility. During the training the issues of industrial and local production of food were especially addressed. During the common meals some talked about inclusion of exotic/German food on their menu. The personal interviews revealed women considering themselves as responsible for the well-being of the family and hence influential regarding food habits. Nonetheless they have to negotiate with or inspire their relatives. Trustful, formal or informal circuits of congruent information were necessary for validation/invalidation of practices and tastes.

Food as a remedy was a fruitful topic and hence followed with some written and filmed products that are medically proved and socioculturally contextualized for supporting self-help strategies.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the ways in which moralities of healthy eating are being practiced and negotiated by patients and/or families with children who have rare metabolic disorders.

Paper long abstract:

Drawing on ethnographic research in Poland my presentation aims at examining food related daily experiences and decision making processes of patients and/or families with children who have rare metabolic disorders.

In my presentation, I would like to slightly reverse the scope of the issues mentioned in the panel description.

Since problem around eating (both "mechanical" and "compositional") is essential in any metabolic disorder, it is easy to see it only as a regime, which needs to be followed, regularly reviewed and checked.

Even though, diet and dietary restrictions are at the core of managing metabolic disorders, practices and choices around food should not be seen only as "proper nutrition" within some medical system, but mainly as complicated (often requiring special trainings) manoeuvring around special requirements and retractions in order to achieve resemblance to the "home made" food and keep the commensality with the rest of the family.

I suggest to look beyond medical inclinations in order to see social practices and hidden moralities

embedded in the food habits, which by default should be healthy, but actually are aiming at very different concepts.