Paper short abstract:

Food is an important dimension of know-how, transmitted from generation to generation, mainly by orality. It gives a sense of power, identity and temporary continuity in the communities. But as a distinctive aspect of social and economic inequalities, it is conflictual and complex.

Paper long abstract:

The process of defining the bases of heritage are an elite construct and a political perspective of what shall be valued in a certain moment in time and in a certain political context. Populations, however are the agents of ancient recipes know how and preservation, by their individual, familiar, cultural and social memory. And they act and react differently towards the political impositions concerning food and ingredients. Their attitudes are deeply connected with their life stories, social status, and remembrance of poverty, hunger, scarcity, abundance and variety of food.

The idea of traditional food spread and shared by the elites is a(n) (re)invention of a reality from the past. The abundance of protein served in restaurants, differs from the reality of a large majority of homes, until the end of seventies of 20Th century. Bread, water, a low range of protein, salvage plants, cereals and leguminous were the main ingredients of really tasty food - but food of poverty.

Nowadays, the (almost) very same food arrives to the tables of elites and middle class, cooked the same way and with the same ingredients, but richer than before, in quantity and quality. Enjoyed by new consumers, this traditional food is either refused or (re)appropriated by traditional consumers of lower social and economic classes. Some of them simply refuse this heritage. As their life style improves, this kind of food is “forgotten”. Their descendent, however, reclaim this kind of food, as an inheritance, a heritage and a symbol of prestige.