Abstract
Food, in the way it is prepared, served and socialized, carries with it a series of gestures, stories, particularities and meanings that make it represent part of the culture of a given society, which changes and is transmited throughout the ages generations as a form of legacy, as heritage. All these cultural aspects, places where they were experienced, people who participated and also sensory aspects such as aromas, textures and sounds, form food and/or gustatory memories. From childhood to old age, eating habits will change considerably, but the memory of some of the first eating experiences and the social context in which they were lived can remain forever in our consciousness. The present work deals with the analysis of the gustatory memories of elderly people living in long-stay institutions. Therefore, a qualitative and ethnographic research was carried out in two institutions located in Santa Catarina. The results show that the gustatory memory of the elderly is linked to a predominantly homemade and natural diet, based on the consumption of items mostly from family gardens and animal husbandry. Food preparation and preservation were influenced by available technology. It was observed that gustatory memories are strongly associated with the cultural origin of the elderly.
Keywords
cooking; food culture; gustatory memories; elderly