Research and analysis

MEDFEST: MED Culinary heritage experiences: how to create sustainable tourist destinations. ODELA – University of Barcelona. Funded by the European Union.

MEDFEST general objective is to create or improve existing strategies relating to sustainable tourism development within the traditional MED small-scale culinary sector. Main aim is to develop sustainable culinary experiences, primarily in rural costal hinterland as a powerful tool to promote “alternative” and sustainable tourist destinations in MED space. Sustainable culinary experiences are alternative tourist food-products that are traditional, respect the local environment and local producers and appeal to the visitors desire for authenticity.

The goal of sustainable tourist offer is not just to attract new visitors but also to increse economic activity in/during the off-season, promote social development of coastal „hinterland“ rural areas and safeguard culinary heritage and awaresess raising on the importance of local produce, processing and knowledge.

Objectives of the MEDFEST project:

1. To find linkages between culinary heritage and sustainable forms of tourism

2. To design new tourist offer in the coastal hinterland and bring sustainable development in off-season months

3. To integrate MED culinary experiences in existing plans and to safeguard it as part of a comon European heritage

For more information: https://medfest.interreg-med.eu.

Research team: Joan Ribas, Jesús Contreras, Oriol Beltrán, Ferran Estrada, Camila del Mármol , Margalida Mulet, Marta Ruiz Pascua, Maria Clara Prata Gaspar.

‘Food consumption and health: impact on maternal and child health of Persistent Toxic Compounds found in food’.

Funded by the Barcelona City Council.

The project focuses on training and dissemination of information about persistent toxic compounds (PTC) in the health sector, aimed at paediatricians, midwifes, nurses and gynaecologists in primary care and hospital services. Its main goal is to broaden and improve the quality of information on nutrition, including the risks of environmental persistent chemicals during pregnancy, breastfeeding and child feeding, through three kinds of actions: a) training for health practitioners (seminars); b) analysing the discourses and practices of health practitioners regarding nutritional advice (qualitative research); c) production and dissemination of educational and training materials aimed at this sector (best practices guidelines, posters and website).

Research team: Cristina Larrea Killinger (Chief Researcher), Eva Zafra, Juan Pedro Arrébola, Esther Herrera, Araceli Muñoz, Lina Casadó, Miguel Company, Andrés Fontalba, Arantza Begueria, Montserrat Fábregas, Jaume Mascaró, Oscar García Algar, Maria Clara Prata Gaspar.

 Research area: Toxic Body.

Malbaratament alimentari a Barcelona: desentranyant i difonent com es produeix. ODELA. Finançat por l’Ajuntament de Barcelona (Consum responsable). IP: Jordi Gascón. Membres del grup d’investigació: Jordi Gascón, Cristina Larrea, Joan Ribas, Carlota Solà.

Confianza y responsabilidad en el consumo alimentario de las mujeres embarazadas y lactantes en España: narrativas y etnografías sobre los riesgos de la contaminación interna por CTP.

Funded by:the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. 

The project focuses on the study of trust/distrust attitudes shown by pregnant and breastfeeding women towards the presence of chemical compounds (Persistent Toxic Compounds) in food, and their assignment of responsibility for the potential long-term effects of these substances on human health. The internal pollution caused by such substances has major cultural, social, ideological and financial implications.

Social agents’ discourses and practices related to mother-and-child food consumption will be studied using an ethno-epidemiological approach. On the one hand, those of health practitioners (gynaecologists, paediatricians, nurses, midwifes, nutritionists, etc.) and other experts (dieticians, pharmacists, alternative therapists, mass media, websites, etc.), support networks (relatives, neighbours, friends, associations, etc.), and on the other hand, those of pregnant and breastfeeding women.

This study aims at taking a deeper look at the social perception of risks associated with synthetic chemical substances found in food and their risks for human health. It also examines the hazard criteria for food consumption during pregnancy and breastfeeding, the dietary recommendations and guidance provided by health professionals, specialists, mass media, support networks or individual choices, as well as the variation of eating practices during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Explanatory models of the food process will also be studied: what food items are purchased, why certain items and not others, selection criteria, food preferences, avoidances and cravings, where they are bought, where they are prepared, where they are consumed, how they are kept fresh, what is shared, what is discarded.

In this study, the interplay of social, cultural, historical and financial factors in the shaping of food styles and preferences will be taken into account. Thus the project looks in more depth into the different levels of social perception of internal pollution risk, based on the role that the different social agents attribute to toxic corporeality in the construction process of human health and food. It takes into account social inequalities, cultural diversity, cooking traditions and ideological choices of women in both urban and rural contexts in two different Spanish regions: Catalonia and Andalusia. Using a comparative, qualitative and ethnographic methodology, this research hopes to yield more conclusive results on the sociocultural context of the limits to accepting risks and hazards, as well as trust and distrust in food consumption.

Research team:Cristina Larrea Killinger (Chief Researcher), Eva Zafra, Edda Marimón, Araceli Muñoz, Jaume Mascaró, Aina Palou, Lina Casadó, Montserrat Fábregas, Joan Pedro Arrébola, Miguel Company, Andrés Fontalba, Arantza Beguería, Esther Herrera.