Food and gender: the "Cozinha Portuguesa" column in Jornal O Século and the gender roles in the Estado Novo Regime

Taking FAOs reflexion on gender inequalities and women’s role as “pivotal in ensuring the nutritional security of their households”, one can perceive an underlying interconnection between food practices and gender roles worldwide. In Portuguese society such connection is still relatively common, but was more so during the Estado Novo Regime. In fact, the role given to women and its connection with food, nutrition and household was one that the regime defended as of core value for the Portuguese along with the idea that women are those who are naturally destined for housework. Aiming to convey this message and values the National Propaganda Secretariat even distributed the publication Economia Doméstica (1945). Against this background, this research aims to understand the dissemination of these values through the newspaper O Século column entitled Cozinha Portuguesa. Through content analysis, this research explores not only the content of such column, but also the language used to portray the idea of the perfect housewife that the regime defended as the role of women at that time. How the role of women is portrayed in the column? Is the discourse clear and align with the regimes propaganda? Has the message evolved during the 48 years of the regime? Can we find similarities in contemporary society? Going beyond the modern idea of gastronomic journalism and food writing in newspapers, this research aims to understand the connection between food and gender roles in Portugal in an authoritarian regime and contribute to the historiography of that time.