Heads os kitchens social participation actions for social change: reflections based on journalistic articles

Abstract

Gastronomy and cuisine are understood in this article as a space that is in the relationship between human beings and food with techniques, values ​​and symbols, which express social relationships built throughout history. Understanding them from this perspective leads us to understand that their practices take place beyond the spaces of restaurants and chefs have been standing out as powerful agents of social transformation, with food having a central role in transforming people's lives. This descriptive and exploratory study aims to analyze, based on journalistic publications, forms of social participation by chefs as agents who use food as a social tool. Nine articles from digital newspapers of two editorial types of journalistic media were selected for data collection, one related to ideological and commercial guidelines and the other without ties to political groups or advertisers published in the period from 2016 to 2020. We showed social practices inserted in strategies to bring producers and consumers closer together through the consumption of food from family farming or from local producers. The practices, in some cases, use food and cooking as a way of strengthening the cultural identity of social groups. The idea of ​​social and political engagement associated with participation can also be seen through the participation of chefs in events or that demand food and nutritional security for all. Finally, solidary food preparation and distribution practices were observed during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic.