From gourmet to hunter: food and fear during the pandemic

Abstract

This essay addresses the daily lives of people living in Brazilian metropolitan areas, and some aspects of their behavior during the Covid-19 pandemic. This reflection results from the author’s experience during the lockdown imposed by health policies to prevent against the contamination with the virus, and from systematic observation of the behavior of people concerning their adaptations around purchase, preparation, and consumption of food during the pandemic. In accordance with food, daily routine and consumption studies, this article demonstrates that the middle-class actions during the pandemic questions the idea that purchasing behavior develops in a linear and progressive manner, in a movement from hunter to gourmet. Having temporarily lost amenities such as restaurants and domestic workers, the middle class reversed to the position of hunting their own food, in a dystopian movement that subverts important narratives in the history of Gastronomy.