Wine is not Alcohol. Patterns of Socialization and Wine and Alcohol Consumption among Children and Youngsters in the Basque Diaspora
Abstract
Alcohol consumption, as an integral part of the wider frame of food practices, is also a social manifestation. It is the aim of this paper to analyze the role of wine as a drink and as a social element in the Basque diaspora. Emphasis will be put on the values attached to its consumption as a drink, by children and youths, and on its social function.
Historique
A first version of this article was presented as a conference in the IVth International Congress of Ales Hrdlicka. World Anthropology at the Turn of the Centuries. Simposium: “Children, Food and Growth” (Igor de Garine and Jana Parizková, coord.). Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Sciences, Charles University and Czech Anthropological Society. Praga-Humpolec, september, 1999.
Plan
Texte intégral
Introduction
1 As an integrating part of the general frame of food behaviour patterns, alcohol consumption has, no doubt, an outstanding social significance.
2 A wide number of varying factors and beliefs are closely linked to a social and moral construction about alcohol, and to the specific transmission of the values which are created and developed around it1.
3 This paper intends to analyse the role of wine as foodstuff and as an instrument of social relations and socialization in the Basque Diaspora. Special attention will be paid to the Basque people who live in the city of Barcelona (Spain) and, more specifically, to social conditioning and popular opinion about alcohol consumption on the part of children and youngsters2.
4 Through emigration, the emigrants’ behavioural patterns adjust to a new environment; sometimes they must take out certain rituals, due to the lack of infrastructures on the site of residence. However, certain values attached to specific foodstuffs – as is the case of wine – maintain a remarkable importance in the individual’s scale of values. On one hand, wine appears to be, in the mind of the analysed subjects, as nutritious and calorific, and even therapeutic food. On the other, it is clearly an important instrument for the promotion of social relationships between the members of the group.
Basque emigration in the city of Barcelona. Introductory notes
5 In spite of the fact that the Basque group living in Barcelona is not a typical model of economy/work grounded emigration, it provides an interesting perspective over a group of emigrants who have settled down within an urban environment. These people have re-shaped their ethnic individuality according to the socio-cultural characteristics rebuilt after the emigration, as well as to the new territory in which they set up home, eventually converted into their own.
6 Among the characterisation of this group, it is worth noticing that it is relatively small (slightly more than 8.000 people), if compared to other groups of Spanish immigrants residing in Barcelona such as the Andalusian (more than 60.000 people), the Aragonese (more than 70.000) and the Galitian (45.000) (cf. Padró d’habitants de la ciutat de Barcelona, 1988).
7 Barcelona, capital of Catalonya – one of the most outstanding industrial regions in Southern Europe – has been the goal of migratory flows since the second half of the 19th century and during the whole of the 20th century, especially between the 1950s and the 1980s. However, the arrival of the Basque people in Barcelona did not coincide with the big migratory movement that took place in Spain due to working/economic reasons. The largest amount of emigrants from the Basque Country arrived in the city in the period stretching from 1935 to 1940, which coincides with the dates of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). An important number of Basque people left their birthplace for reasons which were closely connected to the war.
8 A second important period of Basque emigration to Barcelona was the decade 1971-1980. Although traditional emigration due to economic/working factors decreased notably, it was in this period that a new contingent of people decided to leave the Basque Country and go to Barcelona in search of a better job and of higher economic profits.
9 This is the case of a number of Basque managers, companies and banks which have branches in the Catalan capital, as well as of technicians and people which have been relocated to occupy middle positions within the firms in the Catalan territory.
10 As previously explained, through a detailed study of the Basque group, we can pinpoint the behavioural patterns of these emigrants within an urban frame in which they reconstruct their daily routine and, in so doing, re-define their ethnic peculiarities. Aspects like those linked to food consumption may be, in this respect, illuminating.
Food consumption, identity and emigration
11 As I have said elsewhere (Medina, 1997a), eating as a social fact is converted into an instrument within the field of collective identity in the diaspora and, at the same time, into one of the symbolic frontiers to be taken into account between groups which are in contact. Eating is turned into the evidence of the participation of individuals in a wider sociocultural context. As Igor de Garine argues (1979: 82), it is not by chance that cuisine figures in the first place among the many regional vindications.
12 Through the migratory phenomenon, the space unity of the groups is altered, and its members find new needs, new ways of behaving and re-creating their identity.
13 Similarly, food practices within the phenomenon of emigration undergo a process of reorganization which affects all levels. Yet, according to our point of view, the food system of migratory groups has its own peculiar dynamics, which at times differs from that of the host-country, in its most basic structural elements.
The Basque group: identity and food
14 Food culture has never been underestimated by the Basque group: not only are the Basque people aware of the importance of food in their lives but they are also aware that Basque cuisine is generally assumed to be superior to any other in Spain, which implies a certain degree of ethnocentrism. As Arregui remarks “we usually say, as a joke, that our national sport is ‘feasting’ ” (1988: 307).
15 Ramírez Goicoechea has collected from his informants similar humorous statements such as that the Basque national sport is “elbow-lifting” (in reference to the movement necessary to raise the glass and drink), or “glass lifting” (1991).
16 Both expressions are metaphors of alcohol consumption, more specifically of wine consumption. In a similar way another informant told us that “(...) no doubt about it. If you want to keep Basque people quiet and happy, they must have good food and good wine, otherwise forget about it. For good food they could do anything, and the same is true of wine. People drink a lot in Euskadi3, you know, in my village people say that there are two things that the Basque know better than anybody else: the weather and wine”4.
“Wine is not alcohol”: ethnic and therapeutic beliefs on alcohol consumption
17 For centuries, wine – especially red wine – has been regarded in the Iberian peninsula, as healthy and therapeutic. Historian Xavier Castro explains that wine was regarded by folklore not only as vigorous and nutritious, but also as a wholesome produce; so “red wine was thought to make blood. It was absolutely healthy” (1993: 61)5. In the Basque country wine has been widely used in popular medicine as nutritious food and a therapeutic remedy6 (cf. Goicoetxea, 1999: 1094 y ss).
18 Wine is also considered an element of identity in the Basque country. In its definition there is no reference whatsoever to its being a “drug” or a toxic substance on account of its alcoholic gradation, which paradoxically occurs in the case of other drinks7, including beer, whose gradation is much inferior to that of wine (cf. Ramírez Goicoechea, op. cit: 295). This happens because the Basque do not regard toxicity and drug as belonging in their own culture. Wine is a Basque drink, “ours”, and is consumed within the traditional circuits and the ritual of groups of friends.
19 In this respect, one of our informants has recently commented that “wine is not alcohol. Drinking wine is not drinking. Do you see what I mean? You are just a little tipsy8 Come on, it’s not serious drinking is it? I mean, alcohol and strong stuff like that! Wine is healthy. It doesn’t harm you”9.
Wine as an element of sociability in young people and children from the Basque country: the “txikiteo”
20 There is no doubt that wine for the Basque people – although one might speak in general terms, of the whole of the Iberian peninsula10 – is one of the elements which better help to structure both the rituals of the community such as commensality, and sociability in general. The importance of the stimulating, invigorating and euphorising properties of wine, as well as of its social-relational and religious functions, relegates to the background the fact that wine only marginally meets one’s nutritional needs (Medina, 1996).
21 According to Georges Gulle Escuret: “whatever the society in which wine is produced, distributed or consumed, it embodies, both in its definition and use, the predominance of specifically sociocultural values (1988: 63). Drinking in company, in this respect, confirms and corroborates social ties.
22 In the Basque Country, the main relational group for young people, outside their homes, is the gang. It is an informal group of friends, mainly male, though nowadays also female, which is structured according to age. The age of the members of the groups stretches from childhood and adolescence to the period previous to marriage, although its activity may continue – as it usually does – along all the individual’s life. As Ramírez Goicoechea points out, what defines the gang as a differential group are its practices, condensed in the activity of the so called txikiteo, that is, the routine bar crawl. It is the daily and reiterative consumption of wine in small quantities or units called txikitos, which the gang, regardless of the number of members participating, drink in a number of bars, following a specific route along the streets of the city (1991: 289-290).
23 The circuit follows the pattern set by the members’ routine and its “lack of aim” is take out only apparent. This structured route facilitates the meeting of the gang members at any point of their trajectory. Txikiteo usually takes place in the evening, after work and before dinner, during the week; and in the morning and/or afternoon at weekends, always before lunch or dinner.
24 Txikiteo, understood as “ritualised interaction”, enhances sociability – through alcohol and wine11 consumption – in as far as it fosters communication, talk and jokes. As one of our young informants asserted, “If you don’t drink you’re left out. You are not at the same levels as others (...)”12. The consumption of small quantities of wine facilitates the extension of the route and the total or partial repetition of the patterned circuit when this has been completed and all the habitual bars have been visited.
25 In the Basque country, as in almost every part in the North of the Iberian peninsula, txikiteo, that is “going for a wine” (“ir de vinos”), has traditionally served as a means of introduction of the young13 and children into a socioculturally patterned dynamics of sociability.
26 The fact that a teenager starts going out with friends, forming a gang with those who are closer to his/her age, turns into a sort of “rite de passage” from childhood to adulthood. Wine is thus converted into a culturally symbolic element actively participating in this transition.
27 As Fernández points out, this process works as the initiation of young people to a world of alcohol consumption, far from adult surveillance; young people go out at night, with a group of friends, in a ritual which shows the identification, through imitation, with the adult group (1999: 498). The consumption of alcohol on the part of young people, however, is far from moderate. Basque anthropologist Julio Caro Baroja, already in 1957 wrote that in Vasconia itself, during certain celebrations, one could see young people plunge into a kind of bacchanalian revelry in which the individuals merged with others of their same age losing their personality (1993: 295).
28 As shown so far, the social and cultural values attached to wine in the Basque country place it in an extraordinary position within the frame of social relationship between individuals. In some cases this happens from a very early age, marked by the beginning of adolescence – around the age of 12-1314 – and the process is articulated through the gang.
29 Through emigration, however, the need arises for the emigrants to readjust themselves to the new environment they have come to inhabit. In this sense, the new social milieu imposes its own restrictions on certain patterns of behaviour, such as, the very existence of gangs. The group is thus forced to re-formulate and re-create specific patterns within the sociocultural frame. In spite of all, certain values are transmitted through the socialisation of the young people and keep, thus, surviving in the mind of the subjects.
Wine in the Basque diaspora. the case of Barcelona (Spain)
30 Wine is as highly valued in the diaspora as it is in the Basque country. A Basque shepherd who emigrated to the U.S.A. at the turn of the century, wrote in a letter to his family that he resented the moral relaxation and excessive love for food – especially for wine – of his compatriots: “Here the Basque people are indeed behaving in a despicable way. If they have plenty of peppers, soup and wine15, they don’t even remember what religion is” (Lhande, 1976).
31 Things do not appear to have changed significantly at the end of this century. A Basque-Argentinian from Río Carabelas (South of the province of Buenos Aires), similarly commented: “I summoned them to a meeting. We were going to have a meeting at seven... but nobody turned up. Now, when it comes to eating and drinking and having a good time, there won’t be one missing” (Pérez-Agote et al., 1997: 124).
32 With reference to the Basque who reside in the city of Barcelona (Catalonya, Spain), wine is highly estimated by them, both in terms of its intervention in sociability and of its function as food proper, as an identity-defining drink.
33 In this respect, an informant said that “(...) it is produced in Euskadi together with cyder. What else should we drink? Wine, of course! It’s what we’ve been drinking all life. When I was a little boy my mum gave me bread with wine and sugar as a snack. And very little I was too! We’ve always had wine (...) it’s ours”16.
34 Differently from what happens in the Basque country, in Catalonya the system of relationships between children and teenagers is not structured in this way. The dynamics of gangs according to group age and the txikiteo - that is, the patterned consumption of a small quantity of wine along a set route of bars in a specific area – is characterised by alternative strategies.
35 The most usual pattern, as far as the residence of Basque people in Barcelona is concerned, is that of the integration in the local system of relationships. Yet, the adoption of local patterns is not exempt from frictions: “(...) I am looking forward to having holydays or days off, to leave, go and potear with friends. I’m sick of the bloody granjas17?” here, where you don’t even move. You stay there the whole damned evening!18.
36 Another option, however, could be visiting the Basque bars which have been spreading through the city, especially in the area of Ciutat Vella (old city), where the Basque House (Euskal Etxea) is to be found. In this sense, young people – those who feel like it – can follow a route including five or six Basque bars which are very popular and where they can carry out the txikiteo.
37 “(...) You go out and a have a good time. You can meet your friends, drink wine and have a chat (...) you know! It’s like what we do in Euskadi, isn’t it? I mean, when you’re there with your mates and all that”19.
38 Yet, also differently from what happens in the Basque country, in Barcelona it is the less young who gather for the txikiteo, whereas the youngsters follow the local patterns of relationship, since in their age group, usually formed at school, the young people of Basque origin are clearly a minority. Only when they travel or spend their holydays in the Basque country do they practice txikiteo, with the alcohol consumption it implies.
39 “(...) When I go there, yes, with my friends in the village... But I can’t (laughter) what the hell! One thing is to drink some wine, another is one and more and more... I am already pissed after the third or fourth glass. I’m not used to it. And they tell me things like, you know, ‘you’re like a Catalan’, ‘you can’t hold your drink!’ ”20.
40 Wine is a highly valued element among adults, even as far as its consumption on the part of young people is concerned. In this respect, an informant asserted: “(...) now, what with all these drugs and alcohol!21 ... they should drink more wine, it is healthier. And very young they should start too! In order to get used to it!”22.
41 The characterisation of wine as “healthy foodstuff” implies, according to popular beliefs, an extension of its “goodness” to childhood: children should start consuming wine at “a very early age”, in order to get used to it.
42 Such habit is widely rooted among the members of the analysed group, especially among the older ones. As an above mentioned informant pointed out, more than twenty years ago it was very common to give children bread soaked in red wine and sugar, as a snack. Wine was assumed to be a complementary nutritional and caloric support to the child’s diet. Similarly, it was not uncommon to use sweet wines of medium alcoholic gradation (‘quinas’) as reconstituent remedies, and even in order to “open the children’s appetite”. In a very popular advertisement of the 1970s, a child appeared as an animated character who advertised a well known brand of “quina”. His slogan became very famous all over the country and it ran as follows: “(...) and it gives you such an appetite!”.
Conclusion
43 What has been explained so far makes it clear that in the Basque country wine is a recommended foodstuff – of course we are talking of small quantities when it comes to children’s and young people’s complementary diet.
44 However, it can be said that in some respects it is traditionally considered in the same light in other parts of Spain, since, as has been mentioned above, bread with wine and sugar has always been consumed in places as far from one another as Catalonia and Andalusia. Furthermore, the “Quina” commercial referred to above, had a national diffusion.
45 After the migation however, the behavioural patterns of individuals have been modified according to the sociocultural restrictions imposed by the environment. For example, in relation to the txikiteo, the relational habits of people in Barcelona work differently, in a much more sedentary way and, according to our informants, other kinds of drinks are consumed which are not alcoholic and, in any case, not wine.
46 Consequently there are not the necessary infrastructures for the txikiteo to be practiced. As an established act, txikiteo cannot function, in relation to Basque children and youths who reside in Barcelona, in the same way as the ritual established in the Basque country.
47 Here, on the one hand, it favours relationships between children and young people with the other individuals of their age group and, on the other, it fosters, through imitation of adult’s habits, an early contact with alcohol consumption through wine, which, in turn, implies its consumption in the future.
48 Be it as it may, wine is still highly valued among Basque people, especially among men, since the latter are the main consumers. Wine is regarded as a nutrient and caloric product and the same time it is a relational element exerting a remarkable influence on the enhancement of sociability between individuals belonging to the group.
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Notes
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Référence électronique
F. Xavier Medina, « Wine is not Alcohol. Patterns of Socialization and Wine and Alcohol Consumption among Children and Youngsters in the Basque Diaspora », Anthropology of Food, 0, Avril 2001, Traditions et identités alimentaires locales, [En ligne], mis en ligne le 1 avril 2001. URL : http://aof.revues.org/document1010.html. Consulté le 05 juillet 2008.
Auteur
F. Xavier Medina
Institut Català de la Mediterrània (ICM). Barcelona, EIMAH. Zaragoza