The barbecue as an emblem of food culture, technique and discussions about gender

Abstract

The universe of barbecue, in addition to techniques and cuts, allows for social and cultural reflections. In this way, it covers issues related to the role of women in this still predominantly male environment. We sought to analyze the functioning of barbecue in São Borja-RS, Brazil, in order to identify the female presence in these spaces. For this, interviews were carried out with a semi-structured open questions questionnaire with six people who are already involved in this environment and the information obtained was analyzed and compared. It was observed that, in the city of São Borja, the gender that still prevails in the execution of barbecue is male, although it is possible to notice a change in this scenario, with the introduction and naturalization of the female presence in this environment. Furthermore, it is observed that barbecue permeates a complex set of techniques, ingredients, meat cuts and cultural aspects that enrich the subject and make the act of preparing it extremely rich and subjective.