Eat regularly and carefully, in appropriate environments and in company": A brief analysis of this recommendation of the Brazilian Food Guide

Abstract

The second edition of the Dietary Guidelines for the Brazilian Population has gained prominence both nationally and internationally for its recommendations. "Eating regularly and carefully, in appropriate environments and, whenever possible, in company" is an example of such recommendations presented in the chapter entitled "the act of eating and the commensality". The purpose of this study was to perform a brief analysis of the following 1) the expression "the act of eating" from a sociologic and historical perspective and 2) the recommendation "eat regularly and carefully, in appropriate environments and, whenever possible, in company", separately from each other. It was performed a qualitative study that used documentary research and bibliographic research. The materials considered for the analysis were the fourth chapter of the Brazilian Food Guide, as a document, and books and scientific articles, as bibliographies. The materials were evaluated and selected considering five dimensions: (i) the context; (ii) the author (or the authors); (iii) the authenticity and reliability of the text; (iv) the nature of the text; (v) the key concepts and the internal logic of the text. Then, the document analysis was performed elaborating, for each theme, tables with: (i) names of the authors; (ii) definition or scope of the themes found in the materials, and (iii) annotations from which perspectives the themes were addressed. We present a brief analysis of the relevant aspects of the themes "the act of eating", "eating regularly and carefully", "eating in appropriate environments", and "eating in company". This article contributed to enlarging the scientific discussion on these themes, from various perspectives, and could be taken into account in the development, by other countries, of its dietary guidelines.

Keywords: Diet. Eating; Dietary guidelines; Food guides.