Cooking up changes: the act of cooking as a tool for facing the challenges of the Anthropocene

Abstract

The act of cooking encompasses cultural, environmental, social, economic, and political dimensions, as well as composing the activities contained in a food system, being an action that promotes dialogues and transformations. This study aims to describe and analyze everyday elements related to cooking and its relationship with the food system from the experience of a group of urban women farmers in the east side of the city of São Paulo. Body-map storytelling was used, a creative visual research method, in which, by drawing the participant’s body contours, visual and oral data were produced on the meanings of the act of cooking. Seven women participated in the study, who develop actions related to agriculture and cooking. The generated data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The act of cooking proved to be a connector from the field to the table, strengthening and being strengthened by the practices of urban and peri-urban agriculture, and is an interesting tool to promote health, contemplating biopsychosocial well-being in line with issues of social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Understanding this connection makes it possible to support public policies to promote sustainable food systems and facing the challenges of the Anthropocene.