| Abstract |
Food is an important indicator of social differentiation. On the one hand, it defines the boundaries and hierarchy between social groups, on the other hand, through food consumption we define whoο we are, but also what we want to show that we are. To a large extent, these are embodied habits that are expressed through cultural consumption. Considering that food is an integral part of material culture and social life in everyday life, the central position it has occupied in the field of anthropology since its beginnings emerges. Anthropologists view food and understand the food habits as tools with which they understand given cultures and societies. In this case, the food culture in a traditional agricultural society, well known as Amari, is investigated. Amari will be the field of the ethnographic research, a local region administratively included in the prefecture of Rethymno. In this small mountain society, the main productive activity is based on the primary sector, while animal husbandry, even today, is practiced in the most traditional way, free-range herds. More specifically, the qualitative research, conducted in the given locality, through participatory observation and semi-structured interviews, provided us with an ethnographic material, which intends to answer to a central research purpose. That is, the understanding of collective identity and the ways it is formed in the case study. A small-scale locality formed the canvas and through eating habits we saw how a distinct collective identity is produced, as it emerges through lived experience. The architecture of the thesis is structured as follows: in the first part, a reference is made to theoretical concepts that are considered useful for the social conceptual of the food habits, while through the collection of the literature, an in-depth study is attempted in classic ethnographic studies, always in the field of social anthropology of food. In the second part, the place (Topos), is seen as a field of the intangible agricultural food heritage, the conception of the topos is captured bibliographically and pragmatically. The empirical analysis attempted in the third part highlights the oxymoronic shape that characterizes the diet of the place for the post-war generations and is summed up in the phrase "the abundance of austerity". The austerity of the diet of the post-war generation is assimilated into the way of life and thinking. The cultural practices of cooking and eating food always have the dimension of austerity as a starting point, a dimension that is indisputable even in local culture, behavior and reasonably composes the cultural identity of the place. The thematic analysis of the generations born during the political transition showed that, first of all, what changed was the composition of the population, the form of the family and, by extension, and the eating habits. The post-war generations carry the experience, the knowledge, the strength that shields them in the limitation of food that the agricultural calendar imposes, but also the maintenance of forces gained through food to cope with the arduous agricultural work. The generations of the political transition are differentiated from the older context, people with the knowledge of the nature are pushed aside, while nowadays people follow the directions of the scientific discourse that emerge and indicate what kind of food will be consumed in each social situation and in what way. In the light of a mixed epistemological scheme, the theoretical framework moves in a wide range. Schematically, references move from Clifford Geertz and in a constructivist-interpretive philosophical framework, to the postmodern approaches of Arjun Apadurai and deconstruction to conceive the locality as a field. In addition, Marshall Sahlins' view, advocates a semiotic analysis of collective identity, and Claude Lévi-Strauss's culinary triangle an interpretive scheme of culture from a structural point of view. All the mentioned will be the conceptual tools
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