From Silence to Silence: The Hidden Story of a Beef Stew in Cape Verde

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Abstract
This article engages the cultural continuities that bridge a colonial past of famine with a present context of emerging food vulnerabilities in the urban peripheries of Cape Verde. Merging a historical and ethnographic lens, this work interrogates: Is the present silence about food vulnerability different from past silences regarding famine? How do we interpret present discourses surrounding food when these often conceal rather than reveal food vulnerabilities? How can we bridge the past history of famines (which disproportionately affected the rural poor) with emerging food vulnerabilities in the urban areas where the repetition of rice meals accounts for the bulk of survival?