Food and social codification: Women, cuisine and status [in in Portuguese Alimentação e codificação social. Mulheres, cozinha e estatuto]

Abstract

This article is grounded on a long-term fieldwork carried out in rural India (Gujarat) with a group of Dalit women (the term for which are designated the "old" untouchables of India) and, by extension, with women from other social groups. I intend to analyze how food production, distribution, and cooking operate both as a form of segregation and of women's assertion of power, particularly in situations related to fertility.