PELOTAS NATIONAL SWEET FAIR: INTERNETS BETWEEN GASTRONOMY AND LEISURE

ENTRELAÇOS ENTRE GASTRONOMIA E LAZER

Abstract

This article proposes to discuss the interconnections between Gastronomy and Leisure, considering them as cultural practices that, especially in the public sphere, have privileged spaces for their concretization in events, here treated as gastronomic leisure. In the case under study, the gastronomic leisure practices are investigated at the National Sweet Fair [Fenadoce], an event that, since 1986, annually celebrates the sweets of the city of Pelotas, in Rio Grande do Sul. The Fair gives greater visibility to the local sweet culture - inheritances of Portuguese, French, German and Italian colonial matrices - in a space that, by selling Pelotas Sweets, associates the strengthening of social and identity ties with playfulness, if Leisure is understood as an experience rich in meanings and social interactions. The research is organized as a case study with a qualitative approach, focusing on Fenadoce, and data collection was carried out through the application of a structured questionnaire, with open and closed questions, applied to 192 attendees. The opinion on the confectionery, the festival and tourism was sought. The observation was limited to leisure aspects. The data collected indicate the relevance of treating gastronomic leisure, based on the conception as cultural practices, both leisure and culinary.