The cultural transmission of food habits, identity, and social cohesion: A case study in the rural zone of Cali-Colombia.

While the cooking-culture relationship is a biocultural phenomenon that gives meaning to gastronomic practices through signs and symbols shared within a community, in the 20th century, its transmission has been influenced by important processes of change, such as urban expansion and environmental pollution, which put the continuity of immaterial cultural patrimony at risk. These changes have altered the supply, conservation, and preparation of food and utensils, which are elements that demarcate the society-nature relationship and gender roles, among other things. The objective of this article is to demonstrate the role of the cultural transmission of food habits in identity formation and social cohesion, based upon an ethnographic case study in the Ancestral Community La Playa Renaciente, in Cali (Colombia). This study presents the cultural transmission of food habits, culinary practices, and their relationship with the inhabited environment. Likewise, this article presents a temporal-spatial contextualization of the locality and some oral testimonies that reveal how dietary practices constitute an important element in socialization, social cohesion, and the transmission of knowledge from generation to generation.