Mangia che te fa bene!

Comida e identidade entre os descendentes de imigrantes italianos no Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

In this article we analyze the role of food for the descendants of Italians who migrated to Rio Grande do Sul in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In southern Brazil, European immigrants settled in small colonies, even within the parameters of the policy of colonization of Brazil, sought to replicate the European rural model. These immigrants were mostly poor peasants, Catholics and of northern-italian origin. This family migration was marked by the expectation of cucagna too: the land where the salamis grow on trees and the conquest of wealth would be a matter of time and some work. That is, apart from rising socially, to become owners, these people wished food and wanted it in abundance. We believe that the emphasis on prosperity and abundance represents the desire to perpetuate it, but also points to cultural differentiation and the symbolism of successful migration.