Some contributions of Janine Collaço to "thinking" and "acting" a food anthropology

Abstract

This article pays posthumous tribute to Janine Collaço, highlighting her contributions to the anthropology of food. The objective is to reflect on the complexity and multidimensionality of eating in contemporary times, emphasizing the need for a holistic approach that integrates biological, cultural, social, and symbolic dimensions. Methodologically, the text is based on a bibliographic review and analysis of Collaço's publications, engaging with authors such as Lévi-Strauss and Fischler, and illustrates arguments with ethnographic examples, statistical data, and visual representations (such as food labels and nutritional classifications). The results demonstrate that contemporary food is marked by increasing fragmentation, individualization, and "liquidity," reflected in the proliferation of classifications, adjectives, and diverse food practices influenced by factors such as globalization, urbanization, health, ethics, and identity. It concludes that, although the maxim "we are what we eat" remains valid, the relationship between food and identity has become plural, dynamic, and constantly under reconstruction, requiring food anthropology to adopt an interdisciplinary and contextualized approach to understand the transformations and contradictions of current food systems.