The term “gastrocracy” refers to the appropriation of discourses and practices related to the sourcing, preparation, distribution, and consumption of food for political purposes. The intersections of gastronomy and governance, dating in Spain to the last quarter of the nineteenth century, have become highly visible over the past decade, when political debates around nationalism in its different forms have taken the guise of discussions about regional and local cuisines. Concomitant with the rise of the “slow food” movement and following UNESCO’s addition in 2011 of “Gastronomic Meal of the French” to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, public and private associations all around Spain have been established with the goal of achieving recognition by UNESCO for Spanish, Catalan, and other national cuisines. In 2016, Gastro Marca España—an association and a web portal—was launched to raise the profile of food in Spain’s national brand.

Eliciting wide public participation, co-opted for political purposes, regarded as a factor of economic development on any scale, and integrated into every so-called banal nationalism, the production, distribution, and consumption of food are highly relevant for historical analysis. Seeking to encourage a broader discussion about Peninsular gastrocracies, this book brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars from different sides of the Atlantic and the Pacific who have spearheaded research on gastronomy and governance in Spain.

Eugenia Afinoguénova is a professor of Spanish at Marquette University.

Lara Anderson is a scholar of Spanish and Latin American studies, specializing in Spanish and Latin American food studies and cultural history.

Rebecca Ingram is a professor of Spanish at the University of San Diego.

Introduction: Digestible Governance: Gastrocracy and Spanish Foodways
Eugenia Afinoguénova, Lara Anderson, and Rebecca Ingram

Part I: Gastropolitics

1. Public Control over Private Trade: Barcelona’s Market Hall Food Retailing System
Montserrat Miller

2. Regenerating Catalan Culinary Identity
H. Rosi Song

3. Francoist Food Culture in Post-Authoritarian Spain: Culinary Maps, Centralism, and Food Memories
Lara Anderson

Part II: Ingestible Identities

4. Food Fights: Nativism and Culinary Xenophobia in Europe
Aitana Guia

5. Kashrut in Spain: Religious Observance, State Tolerance, or Niche Market Entrepreneurship?
Silvina Schammah Gesser and Susy Gruss

6. Culinary Conflict or Convivencia?: Halal Food Practices, Perceptions, and Promotion in Spain
Jessica R. Boll

Part III: Gastrocratic Institutions

7. The Institutionalization of the Asturian Espicha during the Franco Regime
Luis Benito García Álvarez

8. Cava’s Place
Bob Davidson

9. Food, Heritage, and Tourism: On the Uses of Food Heritage and Its Relations with Culture, Politics, and Socioeconomic Development
F. Xavier Medina

Part IV: Hard to Swallow

10. Ideology “à la Carte”: Food Politics in Franco’s Spain
Suzanne Dunai

11. Creating a “Land of Charcuterie”: Cured Meat Producers, Culinary Marketing, and the Construction of Gastronationalist Discourses in Twentieth-Century Catalonia
Alejandro J. Gómez del Moral

Afterword: Future Directions on Food Studies and Politics in Spain Today
Carolyn A. Nadeau

Contributors

Index