Abstract
Álava is one of the three provinces that make up the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, a region in northern Spain bordering France. The Basque Country is internationally recognized both for its strong nationalist political movement and for the excellence of its cuisine. Located in the southern part of the Basque territory, Álava has traditionally been the least nationalist and the least “ethnically” Basque of the three provinces. This distinction is also reflected in its culinary traditions. Álava’s food culture has historically centered around products such as wine from the Rioja Alavesa region, wheat, sugar beets, potatoes, and broad beans. These foodways have become integral to Álava’s identity, to the extent that its inhabitants were once pejoratively labeled by northern Basques as babazorros (broad bean eaters) or patateros (potato eaters), since both foods were associated with poverty and underdevelopment. In a similar way, according to Ira Torrresi, the food-related epithets ‘macaroni’ or ‘spaghetti (eater)’ were some of the earliest derogatory designation of Italian-Americans. However, people from Álava have since reappropriated these terms, transforming them into symbols of regional pride and identity. Today, for instance, the term babazorro is primarily associated with the province’s main football team, Deportivo Alavés. This paper explores how local food has come to serve as a marker of regional identity in Álava, in dialogue with broader Basque and Spanish identities. The paper also analyzes the origins of these food-related epithets and examines how their meanings have evolved from insults into symbols of local distinctiveness.
Presenters
Santiago De Pablo ContrerasProfessor, Department of Contemporary History, University of the Basque Country, Álava, Spain
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Food, Identity, Culture, Alava, Basque-Country
