Modernist Legacy:

The literature from Pará and its contributions to the construction of Belém do Pará's food identity

Abstract

This article seeks to understand the important role played by the modernist movement in Pará in the formation and construction of a regional food identity. To this end, we examined modernist works that address the theme, focusing on publications by members of the so-called Academia do Peixe Frito (Fried Fish Academy), a group of young literati that met, from the 1920s onwards, in different places in the city of Belém, but having as fixed point the Ver-o-Peso market. Composed of men, mostly from the outskirts of the capital, they discussed the direction of literature, social and political issues and, in their works, exalted everyday life and the flavors of Pará, which greatly gave visibility to local traditions and customs. Especially when it comes to food. To assess the importance of the group and its members for the history of food, we consulted literary and visual arts sources that highlight the region's eating habits and customs. In this sense, we propose the analysis of the work Kitchen from far north - Pará - Amazonas, written by Bruno de Menezes, one of the leaders of the Academia do Peixe Frito. Produced in the early years of the 1960s, to compose the Anthology of Brazilian Food, by Luís da Câmara Cascudo, the work reveals ingredients, typical dishes and eating habits of the region, and constitutes an invaluable source for the study of the history of food in the Amazon and the process of building its food identity.