O sabor do exílio: alimentação, sociabilidade e política nos diários da marquesa de Fronteira (1801-1860)

This study offers a critical analysis of the diary of Maria Constança da Câmara, a Portuguese aristocrat exiled during the politically turbulent 1820s and 1830s. As a rare surviving example of nineteenth-century women’s writing from Portugal, the diary documents her transnational journeys across Europe and provides an intimate perspective on aristocratic sociability and diplomatic life. Through a close reading of Constança’s gastronomic narratives—including her vivid accounts of meals, recipes, and culinary practices—the research interrogates how food culture intersected with political agency during her exile. By contextualising her observations alongside contemporary cookery books, the analysis reveals how quotidian acts of dining and hospitality functioned as strategic tools for political networking, particularly in advancing constitutionalist ideologies within elite circles. Furthermore, the study positions Constança’s experiences within evolving European paradigms of gastronomy and sociability, arguing that her diary not only reflects the cultural hybridity of exile but also contributes to a broader understanding of how domestic and diplomatic spheres converged in shaping nineteenth-century political discourse. This investigation thereby illuminates the understudied role of elite women in mediating transnational cultural and political exchange through seemingly mundane social rituals.