Celebrating gastronomy and paying attention to local food traditions is important to benefit from the identity and cohesion of populations, their historical and cultural heritage, and the pleasure of eating. At the same time, it counteracts the overabundance of ultra-processed foods and the decrease in the social dimension of food, with the consequent increase in unstructured meals without set times, and with families less gathered around meals. Indeed, it is in the absence of rules about what is eaten (gastronomy (1)) that a large part of the multiple and contradictory pressures exerted on the consumer proliferate.
This is a time of rebirth for Portuguese gastronomy, and in its many dimensions, this movement keeps our identity alive and contradicts the old view of some who might still look at the Portuguese culinary tradition as revolving around bloated banquets (2), adapting Portuguese recipes to contemporary life so that traditional food helps to promote knowledge, humanization, and our healthy daily lives.
Tripe has been part of Porto's culture, tradition, and sentiment for over 600 years, as FCNAUP (Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences of the University of Porto) made a point of highlighting in the city of Porto, promoting the multi-institutional commemoration of the 6th Centenary of Tripe, involving thousands of people (including those who frequented the University of Porto's canteens and public primary schools in Porto, which served thousands of Tripe meals for lunch – in schools, with naturally adapted recipes, dispensing with processed meat, which did not compromise the gastronomic essence of the "dish" of tripe and beans), and it is this context that gives us the legitimacy to rightfully recognize that it could constitute a candidacy for Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Weeks ago, for the same distinction, the French Ministry of Culture considered its baguette.
We know that what we eat is far from – thankfully! – being merely about satisfying nutritional needs; and that much of what we choose is subject to criticism regarding nutritional imperfections (only breast milk is considered perfect, and only in the first six months of life). But in the construction of our preferences, our food culture (i.e., the network of values, attitudes, and beliefs that underpin how we relate through food) plays a crucial role, adding precious wisdom to healthy eating, and a web of communication for the empirical construction of what is edible or tasty (sometimes with inevitable biological, choice, sustainability, and other conflicts).
In the case of Tripas (tripe), this cultural mix naturally endowed the inhabitants of Porto with the ability to preserve a tradition, respecting their ancestry, based on a legend whose narrative dates back to 1415. Tripas became a gastronomic unit – a paradigm of sharing and solidarity – with reasonable display times (in Porto, it's on Thursdays!) and efficient use of food. And since 1415, the people of Porto have been known as "tripeiros" (tripe eaters) because, according to the legend, they gave all the meat from the city, except for the tripe, to the armada of Prince Henry the Navigator, which departed from Porto that year to conquer Ceuta.
The tripe we analyzed in the bromatology laboratory (FCNAUP/FFUP), and which we ate – 320g (300g of tripe and 20g of rice), 772 kcal (VET: 26% fat; 36% carbohydrates; and 38% protein), excellent, from an important restaurant in Porto, included, in addition to beans, tripe, carrot and onion, moderate amounts of chicken, pig's ear and cow's foot, and traces of loin sausage, pepper and cumin (which reduced the saltiness); it did not contain: sausages, ham, bacon, pig's head, in addition to pig's ear, nor lard. The sensible balance of ingredients we received protects the tripe from excesses that, if they occurred, would not promote it to the wide range of consumption opportunities that are legitimate for it, in the recipe that was presented to us.
[If omnivores increased their intake of animal organs that they usually consume, thus helping to reduce their waste in food systems by 50% and consequently needing to eat (produce) less muscle meat, they could contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, in the example of populous countries like Germany, falling by up to 14% (3)]
In praise of Man:
- a generalist (that is, not a specialist in eating, omnivorous) who, through this biological and dietary organization, managed to survive in the most extreme places (from the Arctic ice to deserts, facing long sea voyages without refrigerated goods for the Portuguese conquests and discoveries, or confined for months on end in space stations exploring the Universe);
- with freedom (also nutritional) to choose eating patterns with which he most identifies, including all/only some/or none of the foods of animal origin; and simultaneously
- supportive, capable of keeping alive the tradition of a "Dish" that has united the people of Porto for over 600 years;
- the suggestion is to nominate Tripe for this well-deserved distinction, which would bring an additional advantage to the movement defending food, capable of counteracting the dictatorship of "It's bad for you," typical of cultural loss.
Bibliography:
1 – Poulain, JP. Sociologies of Food. UFSA Press, Florianopolis, 2004.
2 – Our good menus: healthy gastronomy of the Municipality of Loures / Loures Municipal Council; scientific coordination by Emílio Peres, Pedro Moreira, Loures: CM, DL 1994
3 – Xue L, Prass N, Gollnow S, Davis J, Scherhaufer S, Östergren K, Cheng S, Liu G. Efficiency and Carbon Footprint of the German Meat Supply Chain. Environ Sci Technol 2019;53(9):5133-5142.
