Cozinhas e representações: uma análise comparada das obras Gabriela, cravo e canela (1958) e Dona Flor e seus dois maridos (1966)

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the representations of food in the novels Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon (1958) and Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (1966), by Jorge Amado, with the aim of understanding how culinary knowledge and practices are articulated with the construction of Bahian identity and the consecration of regional cuisine as intangible cultural heritage. The research is grounded in the fields of cultural history, food history, gender studies, and the relationship between history and literature, adopting a comparative approach that considers food as a symbolic language structuring social relations. The analyses demonstrate that Amado’s literature not only represents food practices but also contributes to their valorization and social dissemination, especially by attributing centrality to the role of the cook, to sacred food in Afro-Brazilian religions, and to spaces of commensality. In this sense, it is argued that the selected novels contribute to the cultural construction of Bahian cuisine, with literature acting as an active agent in the patrimonialization process of the Ofício das Baianas de Acarajé (Craft of the Acarajé Vendors).