Turismo e imaginário : o percurso histórico do chocolate em Gramado/RS

Abstract

The chocolate is a food wide consumed in many countries, as much in hot climates as cold, is consumed in liquid or solid form. Its history retraces to the pre-Columbian people, but, in 1527, the cacao seeds had been taken from Europe. In the nineteenth century they’ve created equipments to improve the visual aspect and the flavor of Chocolate and the same century they’ve opened the first factories of Chocolate in Europe. In Brazil, the first factories were opened in the late nineteenth and earlier twentieth century by European immigrants. In the south of Brazil, the presence of the chocolate is an outstanding commercial form is in Gramado (RS), from 1975, with the inauguration of the first homemade Chocolate factory. Today, the product is one of the representations of the city, the opinion before mentioned reflects in its association to the tourism in the Region. Therefore, the study is characterized by its qualitative exploratory character, having for general objective to reconstruct the description of the presence of the Chocolate in Gramado (RS) between 1975 and 2012, as an imaginary product and, in its local association to the tourism. As specific objective of the proposed dissertation contextualize historically the presence of Chocolate in Gramado / RS and theoretically contextualize the imaginary in its bond with the local tourism. As methodology, the study is made by oral history, with support of the bibliographical and documentary research. The research identified that the product appeared of a proposal brought from Argentina for Jayme Prawer. With the introduction of this product, Gramado starts to play Argentinian imagery associated with the product, and around an imaginary Chocolate Product sophisticated for elite consumption and home production. With elapsing of the years it starts to construct on the Chocolate an imaginary European and it works as homade form. At the moment that adopts the themig concept, it passes the presence of an imaginary of Disneyworld. Today, the two lines of imaginary are strong presence in the Chocolate of Gramado and the city: of Europeanization and of Disneyfication. The survey also showed that the imaginary of Chocolate feed the local tourism.