Highlighting Research: A 'Taste' of Samuel Brito's Research on the Use of Gastronomy as a Tool for Social Transformation

Gastronomy has proven to be an important tool for addressing social problems and creating social impact in various parts of the world. According to Cruz (2014), gastronomy can be used as a tool for social transformation, to contribute to the promotion of food and nutritional education, to rescue cultural traditions, and to develop culinary skills. Additionally, gastronomy can be used to address issues such as hunger and malnutrition, which still affect millions of people worldwide.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO, 2020), around 690 million people worldwide experienced hunger in 2019; this represents an increase of 10 million from the previous year. Social inequality and poverty are contributing factors to hunger and malnutrition, especially among children and adolescents (UNICEF, 2021).

In this context, gastronomy can play an important role in promoting food and nutrition security, contributing to the improvement of food quality and access to healthy and nutritious foods (SDG 2, UNDP, 2021). Additionally, gastronomy can be used as a tool to rescue culinary traditions and promote the cultural heritage of a region, contribute to the appreciation of cultural diversity and strengthen local identity (World Tourism Organization, 2012).

Gastronomy is a broad and essential need; thus, it is important to draw on a holistic approach to food that tackles all variables that establish its relationship with society.

In the European context in particular, where the debates on migration management strategies and socio-cultural integration are urgent, nutritional practices can play a central role in education for difference and inclusion policies (Franzoni, 2016).

Gastronomy based social projects hold great potential in terms of their social and economic impacts. To explore how and to what extent the use of gastronomy by social projects work, it is imperative to address them from two different but related perspectives – that of those impacted by the project, and that of those promoting and managing the project.

“ I am a chef and food researcher with more than 10 years working in kitchens with different social spectrums, from the most exclusive to the community ones, and the inspiration for this research project comes from my daily work with food."

My doctoral research project proposes an ethnographic study with three social projects that use gastronomy as a tool for social inclusion and transformation. The three case studies are located in three different countries: Portugal, Brazil and Italy; with this, each maintain distinct social, economic and political contexts. The politico-geographical differences aim to bring greater sampling and relevance to data collection, comparison and discussion of the results. In addition to this comparative aim, this dissertation will also delve into the significance of each singular context - that is the social, political, economic, and cultural particularities within each of the projects.

This research rests on the social, economic and political significance of gastronomy. Moreover, each of these projects involve a certain level of fragility specificity and individuality that deserves to be studied in greater detail; questions around gender equality, women’s empowerment, refugee migrations, climate change and even the types of food that make up our diets deserve greater scrutiny. Further research on how gastronomy and social projects such as these might approach or contribute to addressing topics such as those just mentioned are relevant to this study.

“ During my career in the kitchen, I could observe how gastronomy can impact people's lives, not only in sensory and emotional aspects, but also in a social way, being a important too to reinforce social aspects as such empowerment, belonging and social change.”

This comparative study of social projects that use gastronomy as a means for social transformation, seeks to find commonalities between the distinct case studies while taking into consideration the geographical, social, and cultural differences assumed by each entity within its own context. In this way, both the parallels and the distinct singularities and nuances of each project will be placed into a larger conversation or context.

And finally, the use of gastronomy as a tool for social transformation has become a global initiative that cultivates best practices and promotes dialogue between various sectors of society, such as businesses, public administration and international agencies around the transformative power of food. For this reason, it has become increasingly necessary to strengthen research in this field and to use more formal assumptions and more rigorous methods. The findings will benefit academics, practitioners and policy makers, and most importantly the people and communities for whom these social projects were created.