what we understand by food culture, gastronomy and tradition.
// Food culture is the result of the interpretation that human groups have made of the resources that exist in their territory and the way in which they have transformed them into nourishment to obtain food and nutritional security, sustainability, pleasure and well-being. Despite all the changes in our society and in the food system, human beings continue to seek these attributes in food.
// The use of knowledge and creativity to adapt to what the territory offered and conditioned (including from a social and economic point of view) encouraged the chemical, physical and organoleptic modification of resources so that they would be useful to humans over time. This adaptive knowledge continues to evolve and needs to continue to play its role.
// Gastronomy is a cultural interpretation of the set of resources provided by the natural environment in different places, expressed through gastronomic products and recipes. The repetition of these practices gives rise to what we can call tradition – ultimately representing the symbolic values of the groups that inhabit a territory.
// Creativity and innovation against scarcity has promoted a food model throughout the Mediterranean, and in Portugal too, that is biodiverse, seasonal and plant-based, including a diversity of ingredients, knowledge and unique culinary practices that must be preserved.
// In Portuguese gastronomic practice (as in other food cultures) tradition is a reflection of the existence of circular economies, preventing inequality, promoting the optimization of resources and avoiding waste.
// Much of the gastronomic tradition was the product of creativity and innovation in the face of scarcity, in a logic of survival, sustainability and in a historical context, which from an environmental and technological point of view may be difficult to sustain today due to the depletion or overexploitation of resources and technological, scientific and social change.
tradition as evolution and coexistence with innovation.
// Gastronomic tradition is not immutable, but it is permeable to the changes that the present time demands in lifestyles. Tradition only remains because, in some way, it renews itself, adapts, transforms itself, evolving to serve the purposes and needs of the present communities.
// As a practice that serves the biological and cultural needs of human groups, tradition may need to be adapted according to health goals in order to provide sustainable well-being to communities.
// The preservation of gastronomic tradition has a heritage and historical value in itself, but this value may not mean or allow the survival of that same tradition.
// In certain circumstances it may be worth maintaining tradition alongside innovation and coexisting with new products, as without knowledge of what tradition is it is difficult to // create or innovate, that is, adapt what is recognized as close to the communities, updating and legitimizing its food and gastronomic function.
// The introduction of innovation justified by technological, social, health, environmental or cultural needs can be promoted through experience and popular knowledge or the development of the most up-to-date scientific knowledge.
// Innovation can guarantee tradition by using scientific and technological knowledge to promote improvements in existing resources and to increase quality and quantity, promoting environmental, social and economic sustainability.
what guidelines should be provided for agents on the ground?
how should we act to maintain tradition without inhibiting the necessary evolution and creativity?
// The patrimonialization of products and recipes with the recognition of their intangible nature can prevent the fragmentation or even loss of knowledge, which is why it is so important to recognize and document this aspect of popular culture.
// The preservation of a food culture requires that its core be maintained, as human communities respond to what is familiar to them. Thus, the introduction of changes must always be preceded by a mapping, in time and space, of the characteristics of this core, understanding the main lines that support it.
// The language of a tradition, or the set of core characteristics (products, techniques) that can be known, mastered and used to evolve in continuity is an important exercise that can vary from product to product or from territory to territory and that must be discussed and recorded.
// Innovation is not about doing something new. It is about knowing and doing the same thing over and over again, and then doing it in a different way.
// The introduction of new elements, now as in the past, must always be legitimized by communities and the use they make of food culture.
// The dissemination of knowledge associated with gastronomic products and recipes was done based on the certainty that tradition does not follow a logic of ownership, it is a collective heritage, and can follow derivations of various kinds, in time and space.
// The authenticity and genuineness of products and recipes occurs due to the uniqueness of the production contexts and their cultural integration, which also evolve. The establishment of rules can have a perverse effect in limiting creativity.
// Maintaining gastronomic traditions or innovating them (when they allow us to achieve health, environmental or economic sustainability objectives) must provide accessibility for all, inclusion and the fight against social inequality.
// The food culture of a region is like the air we breathe. It must be learned from a very early age, essentially through the mouth, through contact with the products, and continue throughout life through the existence of an environment that allows and facilitates action and at the same time through knowledge that values this interaction.
// Respect for the context of tradition (ingredients, production and conservation methods, geographical environment) will ensure that food practices (products and recipes) do not lose their connection to the space and time of origin, allowing them to fulfil the objectives of their existence.
