The ratio of tradition and innovation in nutrition and food storage in the rural everyday life of Central Kazakhstan 1964–1985

Abstract

The article discusses the definitions of the symbolic meaning of nutrition, its main characteristics, and the impact on the attitude to nutrition in the social environment. This study is based on archival documents and interviewing materials first introduced into scientific circulation. The authors of the article use comparative and microhistorical methods for studying the issues of nutrition and food storage in everyday life. Also, the authors describe the specifics of the natural environment, economic and living conditions of farms in the Central region of Kazakhstan and reveal the specifics of the technology of cooking and storing food based on national and regional characteristics. In the context of the introduction of technical innovations and/or their absence, changes in nutrition in the daily life of villagers are clarified. The influence of changes in the national composition in time and space on the domestic and economic situation is observed. Categories of the population of Central Kazakhstan are highlighted and the issues of sources, consumption and processing of food are considered systematically. As a result, the problems of preserving and changing centuries-old Kazakh traditions and technologies, national identity in various aspects of rural everyday life in Central Kazakhstan are identified. The authors conclude that the survival strategies of rural residents in conditions of mass scarcity are based on the preservation of traditions in the realities of life during the Soviet stagnant period.