Consumo alimentar das cidades criativas pela gastronomia UNESCO no Brasil

Abstract

Research objective: This study analyzes food consumption in Brazil from a praxeological perspective, integrating recent national scientific production with a comparative analysis of food practices in four Brazilian cities recognized as UNESCO Creative Cities of Gastronomy. The research aims to understand how materials, competences, and meanings combine to shape food practices in urban contexts marked by territorial inequalities, public food policies, and contemporary market and tourism dynamics. Theoretical framework: The study is grounded in Practice Theory, particularly the contributions of Schatzki, Reckwitz, Shove, and Warde, who conceptualize consumption as a social practice emerging from the situated articulation of sociomaterial elements organized across time and space. The framework also engages with structural approaches to food systems, emphasizing the role of public policies, territorial inequalities, and provisioning circuits in shaping access to and patterns of food consumption in Brazil. Methodology: A multipaper format was adopted, comprising two complementary studies. The first consisted of a scoping review of Brazilian scientific production on food consumption between 2019 and 2024. The second developed a qualitative multiple case study analyzing Belém, Belo Horizonte, Florianópolis, and Paraty. Secondary data were drawn from the Food Insecurity Risk Screening (TRIA), the Food and Nutrition Surveillance System (SISVAN), and VIGITEL, as well as institutional documents such as UNESCO Creative City nomination dossiers. Data were examined through thematic analysis guided by categories derived from Practice Theory, structured around four analytical dimensions: stability of access, composition of practices, temporality of meals, and spatial configuration of eating. Results: Results indicate that food consumption in the analyzed cities is organized through hybrid sociomaterial arrangements in which fresh foods and ultra-processed products structurally coexist. The comparison reveals distinct mechanisms of access stabilization, ranging from territorially embedded provisioning circuits and institutionalized public food policies to contexts shaped by intra-urban inequalities and tourism dynamics. Across cases, meals display relative temporal stability, particularly in the maintenance of main daily meals, while simultaneously incorporating transformations in dietary composition and in the spatial organization of eating, often mediated by screens and digital devices. Food practices thus emerge as sociomaterial ecologies combining continuity and adaptation within unequal urban environments. Originality: The originality of the dissertation lies in bridging a systematic review of recent Brazilian scientific production with an empirical comparative analysis of urban food practices through a praxeological lens. By mobilizing Practice Theory within the field of Management and applying it to UNESCO Creative Cities of Gastronomy, the study advances understanding of food consumption as structured by sociomaterial mechanisms of stabilization and recomposition, moving beyond individualistic explanations toward a relational, territorial, and institutionally embedded perspective. Practical contributions: The findings provide insights for the design and refinement of urban food and provisioning policies, particularly within Creative Cities of Gastronomy. By demonstrating that food practices depend on the articulation of material conditions, institutional infrastructures, territorial dynamics, and cultural meanings, the study supports integrated strategies that connect local gastronomy valorization, equitable food access, and the sustainability of urban food systems.