Do papel para a mesa: avaliação de livros de receitas e os reflexos das (trans)formações dos hábitos alimentares neles contidos

Abstract

Nutrition, beyond providing energy, encapsulates the imaginary dimension between human beings and food. Once nutrition is influenced by history, eating habits are dynamic, undergoing constant (trans)formation, which is a multifactorial process. Therefore, in order to understand how it happens, a multidisciplinary approach is needed. The cookbook can be an important source of information relating to the ingredients, utensils and preparation techniques from the epoch of its writing. Thus, this paper intends to associate Nutrition and History as fields of knowledge, aiming to analyze the (trans)formation processes of eating habits through the culinary practices described in the cookbooks, based on a comparative approach of those, in order to identify food and ingredients used, alterations in preparation methods, utensils and equipment, changes in recipe description and measurement units used. This paper has a descriptive character, and is a basic qualitative research. The data collection technique was done through document research, considering cookbooks as historical documents. For that, the following books were selected: O Cozinheiro Imperial, from 1843; O Cozinheiro Nacional, possibly published between 1860 and 1890; Comer Bem — Dona Benta, 16th edition, from 1944; A Cozinha Brasileira, from 1971; A Grande Cozinha de Ofélia, from 1979; A Cozinha Brasileira de Ana Maria Braga, published in 1998; and Panelinha — Receitas que funcionam, fifth edition, from 2012. The categories for analysis were: Recipe description; Measurement units; Utensils and equipment used; Preparation techniques; and Main ingredients. Thereby, the reflexes of eating habits (trans)formations were observed in the decreasing number of meat-based preparations, given that the recipes with game meat decreased. However, an increase in fish, bird and seafood consumption, and in protein as a garnish were observed. The dessert preparations increased, mainly those with milk, given that the most frequent were those with fruit. Moreover, a homogenization of eating habits was observed, with the loss of a variety of main ingredients used in the books. The loss of cooking abilities could be noticed through the description of the recipes, which began to be more detailed. Beyond that, the use of home measures indicates the reproducibility in a domestic environment, as a way to democratize the recipes. It was also observed that cooking was the most used preparation technique. It was possible to identify utensils which fell into disuse, and gadgets which became present in kitchens, observing a great diversification of cooking tools. Such diversification is tied to the industrialization process, which included new home appliances to the cooking act, inserting new recipes. The influence of the food industry is also seen in the use of ultra-processed ingredients in the evaluated recipes. Finally, it is noted that the books are directed to the female public, an aspect which is changing. Thus, it was possible to observe the reflexes of the (trans)formations of eating habits through the books. As such, it is understood that cookbooks have an important role in the perpetuation of habits throughout time, for they are documents which can be used not only at its publication time, but also later on.