CULINARY ACTIVITY AT THE CENTER OF THE TRILOGY

Abstract

This article proceeds from a survey which aims to examine the social dynamics which structure the cooking activity in the socio-cultural area of Agonlin in the center-east of Benin and to bring out the trilogical relationship where the cultural, the vital and the economic are interrelated. Traditionally, cooking is a cultural activity that structurally differentiates communities through symbolic food offers which respond to social, spatial, temporal, and biological norms. It is at the center of other activities for which the purpose is to obtain food and integrates the system of values by ensuring the functions of medicalization and structuring of social relations. The socioculturality of cooking shapes the diet and constructs the social and cultural identities of this communitys members. With socio-economic changes, homo oeconomicus has rationally removed the cultural and spatial barriers of cooking, making it an activity of production of goods and services for commercial purposes where dishes are now monetized. We are witnessing a patrimonialization of traditional foods which positions the culinary activity in an economic sphere. This monetization of the culinary offer has impacted the societys way of life.