Digestive Beverages As a Medicinal Food in a Cattle-Farming Community in Northern Spain (Campoo, Cantabria)

When we are hungry we feel that eating is essentially a biological activity. We ingest food for energy and nutrients. Nevertheless, food is a social phenomenon with many biological, agronomic, economic, and social implications. Food habits cannot be reduced to their nutri­ tional, dietetic, or therapeutic values. Coffee, for example, is not just a stimulant beverage that provides caffeine: it is also a tasty beverage used as a relaxant on social occasions. For most cultures, including those in the Mediterranean area, eating is a social activity that ex­ presses social relations such as status, friendship, or kinship (Con­ treras, 1993).