Defining social gastronomy: Multidisciplinary perspectives and a new paradigm for positive social impact through food and culinary practices

Gastronomy has been the subject of study and debate, not only in terms of its practice but also in terms of its genesis, ever since it was established in the scientific field. Numerous authors have tried to define gastronomy based on the bias in which they are inserted. One of the new ways of practicing gastronomy is called social gastronomy, which has emerged as a vector for change and positive social impact through food and cooking but has yet to be defined. This study aims to alleviate this problem by presenting a possible and broad definition of social gastronomy and the variables that permeate it. To this end, it sought to map, through a scientometric review, the nature of the main actions, manifestations, agents, and principles involved in the construction of social gastronomy from the emergence of the term to the present day. The scientometric analysis was applied to target the field under study using the Scopus® database, with a final search of 35 articles submitted to data analysis using the VOSviewer and Bibliometrix software. In the period studied (2006–2023), analyzing the evolution of the experimental field, authors, journals, and countries showed an extensive range of studies, from social sciences to health sciences, as well as studies related to sustainability and the environment. It was also observed that the International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science is the journal that covers the most articles in the field evaluated and the one that manages to unite the multidisciplinarity of social gastronomy. However, caution is needed with this observation, as the study revealed a relatively small number of publications related to social gastronomy. This could indicate that it is still an underexplored research area, even though such actions are widely carried out worldwide. Encouraging its inclusion in the scope of scientific journals could further promote its development and visibility. Finally, a categorization of studies on social gastronomy is presented, contributing to the creation of a definition of social gastronomy and ending with the elaboration of questions aimed at continuing related debates on the subject in future research.