Restaurantes e cafés: os lugares de sociabilidades e gastronomia no Recife da segunda metade do século XIX.

Abstract

In the middle of the nineteenth century, the city of Recife grew and wanted to "civilize". This process of structural and socio-cultural changes counted on the appearance of some innovations, like restaurants and cafes that, over the years, have become important spaces of sociabilities. In these new environments, people gathered to talk, enjoying the occasions to taste dishes and enjoy wines and other types of drinks. The study of these gastronomic spaces helps to understand a Recife beyond the famous "libertarian struggles", as it was written, but, above all, a city that grew and tried to offer new habits, imitating the Europeans. When inventing new uses, like the cafes and restaurants, many customs of the past have not been supplanted. The city continued to buy delicacies sold by black slaves or freedmen who walked the streets offering their groceries or preferred to buy food in the new establishments, but they kept the habit of serving with the family in the home. The taste for new uses allowed this research to look at the capital of Pernambuco by another prism, that of the palate, entering through several spaces in order to present some discussions about the history of Recife in the period in focus. An affective story, assuming that gastronomy is an important indication for the sociocultural study of a people.