A gastronomia como fator identitario:lembranças e silêncios dos imigrantes espanhois na cidade de São Paulo (1946-1953)

Abstract

The city of Sao Paulo has been through a migratory process which results in a cultural diversity observable in a closer look as well as in its gastronomic practices. The Spanish came to the city in two great migratory moments: at the end of XIX century and at the beginning of XX century to substitute the slave workforce in the coffee plantations and after the Second World War (1939-1946) and the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) to work at the recent industry which was in development and needed specialized workforce. The Spanish people did not leave evident prints and permanencies in the city of Sao Paulo, as the other groups of immigrants, especially concerning their typical food, fact that is not observable in the descendent families and also at the small number of typical restaurants in the city. The gastronomy as a cultural manifestation, memory and identity is the last habit that a group abandons when migrates, because it is connected to tastes and costumes. The alimentation suffers adaptations or substitutions of ingredients from the country of reception. This work has as objective the study of silences and permanencies of Spanish immigrants from the second moment of their immigration to Sao Paulo, as for its alimentation habits in the period of 1946-1965.