[Eating practices and behavior in the urban environment: a study in downtown São Paulo]

This study focuses on the implications of urban life style on eating habits and the related symbolic representations. Theoretical references used to approach the food experience are the concepts of social representation and habitus. The methodology consisted of a qualitative analysis of interviews with 21 administrative employees and field observations made at commercial establishments in downtown São Paulo, such as snack bars and restaurants. Study of eating behavior and practices was developed along two planes: food actually eaten and food desired. Results were classified into three segments: "ingesting and digesting affection", "determinants of social representations of eating practices", and "rituals in eating practices". Due to their origin in a domestic universe, symbolic aspects associated with food have a strong affective matrix. Concrete conditions of the urban environment associated with the subject's financial limits establish a structure of values and feelings compatible with the subject's possibilities. The study addresses both the abbreviation of food rituals and its implications on food behavior as well as features of the present urban food pattern.