Bread, politics and pandemic in Brazil: between disclosures and concealments

Abstract

Based on a publication made by the Brazilian Ministry of Health on its social networks, which encouraged people to prepare bread during the pandemic, this essay was developed on the assumption that eating and cooking are political acts. Thus, the argument of the present text is that the aforementioned publication unveils, in a broad perspective, the government's political performance in the face of the pandemic. Here, the concept of politics is understood as a field of power relations, which were evidenced from the disclosures and concealments manifested in the publication, as well as from the reactions caused by it. With the alleged neutrality of a publication dedicated to encouraging healthy eating practices, understanding cooking and eating as political acts reveals precisely that impossibility - a simple recipe cannot escape from politics, especially due to the federal government's lack of responsibility and inaction in managing the pandemic.