Between Rupture and Continuity: Millennials' Reasons for Eating Chapulines in the Southern Sierra of Oaxaca

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper explores the relationships between permanence, renewal and loss of food tradition in youngs from Oaxaca, México, through a key food in the local culture: the insect Sphenarium purpurascens Charpentier (SPC). To determine and characterize the reasons for the consumption and/or non-consumption of SPC in adult Millennials attending the itinerant market of the city of Miahuatlán de Porfirio Díaz, method has two levels: 1) statistical, by exploratory survey to determine magnitude, distribution and reasons of consumption/non-consumption of SPC 2) semiotic, using in-depth interviews and narrative analysis to understand the network of meanings that motivate the consumption/non-consumption of SPC in Millennials. 194 persons aged 18 ≥ years were surveyed. Without generational distinction, 84.5% consume SPC mainly for taste, custom and nutritional value. Abstention is due to disgust, high prices and clinical effects. In qualitative interviews with 16 Millennials, the ingestion of SPC is a family habit associated with Oaxacan identity, while abstention was identified with disgust, gastrointestinal discomfort, religion and social position. Ingestion of SPC is a practice of Millennials in the studied context, although the significance of consuming it or not, tends to adapt to the globalized market and, therefore, in the medium term it could become considerably reduced.