Time and mealtimes in Meteqleya Argobba households, Ethiopia

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Periodical article

Title:	Time and mealtimes in Meteqleya Argobba households, Ethiopia
Author:	Kifleyesus, Abbebe
Year:	2006
Periodical:	Africa: rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione
Volume:	61
Issue:	2
Pages:	251-270
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Ethiopia
Subjects:	Argobba food preparation time management
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/40761857
Abstract:	Food practices structure social time and these practices are in turn influenced by the place reserved for them in daily routines. Among the Meteqleya Argobba of Ethiopia, meal times are changing due to men's involvement in trading and market activities, as well as new school schedules for children in towns outside Meteqleya. Argobba cultural survival depends on maintaining a balance between traditional time and modern time. This article compares household practices, including meal times, in towns with those in rural settings in the Argobba homelands. It examines how much time is devoted to the production, procurement and storage of foods, food preparation and food consumption. It shows that although mealtimes among the Argobba are undergoing change, this is not a reversal of the traditional order of meal scheduling. Irrespective of the economic status of households, they all make time for indigenous cultural practices and the new meal patterns that emerged in response to hegemonic pressures are still fundamentally indigenous in form. Bibliogr., notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]