Do consumo à produ o: produtos locais, olhares cruzados

The aim of this paper is to construct a reflection in relation to the processes of enhancement of local products in contemporary societies. We present data from studies conducted in different rural areas and in the capital of Rio Grande do Sul State - located in southern Brazil – in order to discuss the referred theme with the pertinent international literature. Given a context in which is possible to notice a significant urban anxiety in relation to food and an intense material and symbolic mobility between the countryside and city, we observe, through the analysis of the interviews carried out with urban consumers, a positively valued idea of rural even as an idealized one. But if it is possible to observe the enhancement of the processes of local products associated with idealized imagesof the countryside, it is also significant to understand other kinds of motivations, associated with the idea of healthy eating habits, linked to political commitments or also related to appeals that seek to strengthen the identity and cultural traditions. In the analysis of the consumption of local products there are elements that allow the understanding of the dynamics of rural development. For this reason, "from consumption to production" and hence the interest in "crossing views"