Food fears and risk of loss of food heritage: A little-explored effect of food modernity and times of pandemic

Multiple global transformations in production processes and in the buying and consuming patterns of prepared foods associated with food industrialization have led to cultural fragmentation. In food terms, this fragmentation is evidenced by pressures on food heritage, by the homogenization of diets and food practices, the loss of traditions, recipes, techniques and traditional preparations, among others. An additional pressure on food heritage is the popularization of hygienist discourse and increasingly stringent safety standards. Likewise, food modernity and the COVID 19 pandemic have generated insecurity in consumers and food fears in relation to the food consumed that can restrict their consumption. This article addresses the effect of food fear on the consumption of typical foods and the consequent loss of food heritage, taking as an example the consumption of typical foods of Colombian gastronomy prepared with hydrated corn dough. Based on an expert consultation (N = 102; 57 F, 45 M), it was evidenced that part of the consumers identify physical, chemical and microbiological risks in typical foods, and experience food fears that restrict their intake outside the home in spaces of cultural tradition such as stalls on the street and market places. There was also evidence of a limited reproduction of traditional recipes, even within homes, materializing a risk of loss of food heritage. Finally, it is concluded that this risk of loss of food heritage resides in the influence of modern nutritional habits on cultural values that are fragmented and disappear, such as the oral transmission of knowledge and culinary practices intergenerationally, family and community cohesion around food and the radical disappearance of recipes as well as their preparations.