FAIRS IN A FRONTIER TERRITORY: REFLECTIONS ON FOOD, BORDERS AND IDENTITIES

Abstract

This study aims to reflect on food evidence, raised at street market in a frontier territory and relate them to identities and borders. The study was done by observing the daily life of the street market, history, organization, languages, identities, socialization; and the registration of food / gastronomic practices in these spaces, including ingredients, products, techniques and utensils. The location studied is the triple border between Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina where three street market were analyzed, one on each side of this border: Feirinha da JK (BR), Feria Municipal de Ciudad del Este (PY) and Feirinha da Argentina (AR). The paths of this research were shaped using the indicative method (GINZBURG, 1989, 2006) in everyday practices (CERTEAU, 2007, 2008) with ethnographic hints. The results point to these street market as social spaces with their complex food systems, in which food can represent identity, authenticity, borders between the Self and the Other, adaptation to be appreciated by different tastes and still be a vehicle for the transmission of knowledge among the community itself. Thus, food expresses plural social dynamics, which are in constant negotiation and transformation.