"Pegando o Beco": comensalidade e sociabilidade boêmia na Cidade Alta (Natal/RN)

Abstract

The Cidade Alta is a degraded space where the traditional bars of Natal’s downtown (RN) are located. These bars offer dishes of local cuisine and are also strongholds of leftist intellectuals. For at least ten years, there has been a revitalization of the Cidade Alta, with the emergence of festive spaces and the appreciation of popular music associated with bohemia, samba. In addition to the festive aspects, we will be interested in the status of food and its forms of consumption, starting from the idea that they are part of bohemia along with music and drink. This research aims to describe the lifestyle, the forms of commensality and sociability in three bars in the adjacency of Beco da Lama. For data collection, the ethnographic method is used: semi-structured interviews with cooks and waiters, informal conversations with consumers and direct observation. Thus, the bars appear as the main responsibility for the resistance to the gastronomization process of the local kitchens, as they preserve the aspects of “root cooking” and old urban practices in Natal that has been lost with the growth of a predatory gastronomic tourism. The forms of commensality observed in bars associated with bohemia are resistant to mass culture and recent changes in the urban scene.