Fourteenth International Conference on Food Studies

Abstract

The inventorying of food heritage in Portugal is the subject of this study. Food heritage is a new object of research that has been gaining momentum since the last decade, with the inclusion of food practices in the various national inventories and in the UNESCO Lists for the promotion and safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). The 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage provided a considerable stimulus for the establishment or improvement of governmental instruments for inventorying intangible heritage in many countries, by making inventorying at a national level a mandatory condition for applications to UNESCO. In Portugal, the Convention was ratified in 2008, and in 2011 the first cultural element was registered in the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage (INPCI). However, it wasn’t until 2020 that the first application was submitted for a cultural element directly related to food production or consumption. Our study is therefore situated in the convergence between the anthropology of food and heritage studies. We analyse the inventory apparatus in use in Portugal today, focusing on the applications related to food practices, such as: the Talha Wine Production Process (2022); The Making of “Passarinhas” and “Sardões” (2020); The Process of Artisanal Cuscus Making in the municipality of Bragança (2022), and the Bolo de Tacho (2022). This is an exploratory and descriptive case study that aims to contribute to discussions about the challenges of inventorying the intangible heritage and the specificities of the heritagisation of food practices.