Abstract
A food tradition not only corresponds to the vital need to be nourished every day, but is part of the particularity of a territory as a consequence of its history, traditions, natural heritage, and capacity for ecological and social resilience. In the search for culinary identity, a valorization of a rural territory of high identity potential is carried out, such as in the environmental protection area “Sierra Grande de Hornachos” (Extremadura, Spain), and specifically the town of Hornachos. For this purpose, a series of workshops and interviews were held for men and women who had lived most of their lives in Hornachos and who were older than 70. Information on the food uses of wild and cultivated plants, as determined by the Cultural Significance Index (CSI) for 79 species, was extracted from the interpretation of the data collected. In addition, new uses were collected in Extremadura for 16 plants and in Spain for 3, with some of these data being of particular significance in the culinary culture of Hornachega. We conclude that the area “Sierra Grande de Hornachos” forms an environment of great culinary identity that must be preserved, not only for its heritage interests but also for its agroecological ones, which could be translated into measures of wealth creation and development.
Highlights
IntroductionIn building the identity of a country, a region, or a community, food is the central axis of human relations, and presents itself as a carrier of diverse meanings which acquire value from the natural and cultural history of the area’s inhabitants.Food is an important element that supports social groups to become aware of their differences and ethnicity—understood as the feeling of being part of a different cultural entity—so that sharing it can mean recognition and acceptance/incorporation of these differences [1].To this same extent, the kitchen, considered in its broadest sense, in which the place for culinary procedures and for the practice of sociocultural values, and is a reflection of the society it is situated in since each social group has a table of references that guides the choice of foods that confer a particularity, differential, distinctive experience [2].In this context, food identity is the expression of the cultural, economic, and agro-environmental particularity of a territory and the people living there
We focus on the protected area “Sierra Grande de Hornachos” (Extremadura, Spain) a territory where there is a great plant diversity, where it is estimated that there may be more than 830 plants with known utilities for humans in the Spanish territory, uses that are determined by the culture and peculiarities of each place [14]
It was shown in this study that the cultural richness associated with the traditional use and consumption of wild and cultivated plants of the protected area “Sierra Grande de Hornachos”
Summary
In building the identity of a country, a region, or a community, food is the central axis of human relations, and presents itself as a carrier of diverse meanings which acquire value from the natural and cultural history of the area’s inhabitants.Food is an important element that supports social groups to become aware of their differences and ethnicity—understood as the feeling of being part of a different cultural entity—so that sharing it can mean recognition and acceptance/incorporation of these differences [1].To this same extent, the kitchen, considered in its broadest sense, in which the place for culinary procedures and for the practice of sociocultural values, and is a reflection of the society it is situated in since each social group has a table of references that guides the choice of foods that confer a particularity, differential, distinctive experience [2].In this context, food identity is the expression of the cultural, economic, and agro-environmental particularity of a territory and the people living there. Food is an important element that supports social groups to become aware of their differences and ethnicity—understood as the feeling of being part of a different cultural entity—so that sharing it can mean recognition and acceptance/incorporation of these differences [1] To this same extent, the kitchen, considered in its broadest sense, in which the place for culinary procedures and for the practice of sociocultural values, and is a reflection of the society it is situated in since each social group has a table of references that guides the choice of foods that confer a particularity, differential, distinctive experience [2]. Public Health 2020, 17, 2283; doi:10.3390/ijerph17072283 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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