Home – Home – Jornals – "Philosophy of Education" 2014 number 2

The article considers the methodological principles of studying the nutrition culture as a set of local variants in the dynamics of transformations associated with the changes in social and domestic life and ethno-cultural interactions. The scientific discussions affecting various aspects of the nutrition culture are the result of a growing public interest in the subject. Various ethnic culturesshould be considered in the historical dynamics. Talking about food culture of specific ethnographic groups, we should raise the issues of adaptation and the main components of traditional nutrition systems. The traditional systems of nutrition gradually disappear. However, the environmental behavior of the ethnic group is still largely due to its food traditions and is determined by its economic and cultural activity. Thus, food and food culture are studied from different perspectives: historical, sociological, psychoanalytic, and ethnographic ones. Food is a part of the culture of life support. It is simultaneously an element of nature and a product of social activity. The specificities of nutrition affect the biological specificity of the person. The development of the techniques of obtaining, storing, preparing and eating food is a process that occurs in the field of material culture, but the structure and nature of the meal cannot be understood outside the context of the world-view and spiritual culture as a whole. The nutrition culture is understood by us as the use of food products (obtaining, preparation) in accordance with regulations, restrictions and norms, which are determined by the specifics of life activity of the ethnos. A regional approach allows selectingthe local communities of culture (local variants) and cultural complexes. In studying the food culture, there are also usedthe methods of field ethnography: the method of direct observation; comparative linguistic method, allowing revealing the characteristic features of the lexical group «food» in certain ethnic groups. Linguistic data enable to confirm the stability or volatility of food culture of local groups in connection with various kinds of cultural influences and innovations. The comparative-historical method is also important;it allows tracing the transformation of local food options, identifyingthe common and the specific in the nutrition of ethnic groups. The studying of traditional food as one of the most conservative elements of culture allows reconstructing and reviving some food traditions, makes it possible to carry out broad historical comparisons and come to certain conclusions about the general and specific elements in the system of people’s nutrition.