A festive dinner

Borislava, Vučković

Kultura

146

182

199

0023-5164

10.5937/kultura1546182V

http://scindeks.ceon.rs/article.aspx?query=ISSID%26and%2612288&page=0&so...

2015-2021/06/21/07:33:42

This study of a festive dinner in a rural micro-community in the period of socialist Yugoslavia shows how a group confirms and redefines its existence through a formal menu. The menu bears the male sex signifier, yet matches the taste of all the consumers. The abundance of meat in the meals shows that 'a class body' - a strong (male) body is desirable, revealing the deepest dispositions of habitus. Alcoholic drinks are taken by both men and women, yet men drink more being members of a more dominant sex, thus having a greater need in reproducing the cultural norm. The activity of preparing and serving food at the table is not subject to ritual rules and bears the female sex signifier. By introducing changes in the menu and by emancipation of the woman at the dinner table, this patriarchal micro-community shows dynamics and flexibility, thereby negating the stereotype of the rural population as passive. The differences in the economic power are least visible at the festive dinner table, which confirms the Bourdieu's statement that food is a privileged field where it is symbolically possible to regain dignity and self-respect of the social groups positioned at the bottom of the social ladder, in real economic and social terms.