Sustainable practices seasoned with memories and experiences

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present a reflection about the experience of the Igarapé Bem Temperado Festival, understanding it as part of the mosaic of culture and tradition of Minas Gerais, of Brazil and of a group of movements for the preservation of the state cultural heritage. The recognition of local expressions, the valuing of feminine experiences regarding ancestral knowledge focusing on food security, the possibility to rescue identities, as well as the possibility of sustainable economic development are the central elements of the analysis. It is also about investigating the different ways through which the culinary traditions are re-signified, so that it makes sense for the groups who reaffirm them, at the same time they are manipulated at the center of permanent reconstruction of the “typical and traditional” ways of Minas. Mário de Andrade, Eric Hobsbawm, Carlos Dória e Marcelo Bastos, among other authors were called into the dialogue in an attempt to understand the cultural and political dynamics of this game of identity and tradition from Minas Gerais.