Sexualized sweets and consumer self-narratives: a study on consumption practices at La Putaria/La Censura

Abstract

Records of materialized representations of genital organs and sexual relations between men and women can be found in different societies located in different historical times. In the article, we present the connection between materialized representations of genitals and edible substances in a contemporary urban context based on the La Putaria store, installed in 2021 in Lisbon and opened in 2022 in Belo Horizonte, with subsequent opening of branches in Rio de Janeiro, in Rome and São Paulo. The Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro branches closed their doors in 2024. The experiences of consuming the store’s sweets in the Belo Horizonte store were widely publicized on customers’ social networks, indicating that the act of presence in the queues and inside the store, and the devouring of piroffles and xoxoffles, are elements for the production of expressive narratives of the self. The analyzes are based on visits to the store, conversations with consumers, owner and employees in 2022 and 2023. It is concluded that the sale of eroticized foods carried out by the store triggers urban moralities and offers a scenario for identity expressions based on sexuality and forms of enunciation of consumption choices, encompassed by the environment of uncertainty and instability that marks the landscapes of contemporary cities.