"Isso é comida de Huni Kuin!": etnobotânica da alimentação indígena no Baixo Rio Jordão, Acre

Abstract

The Kaxinawá indigenous people (self-named Huni Kuĩ) are native to the Amazon - on the border between Brazil and Peru - and have vast knowledge associated with biodiversity. This ancestral wisdom is directly related to eating practices and is transmitted orally and empirically, from generation to generation, since immemorial times. This is because food is a central element in the culture of this people, being one of the most important aspects of the social life of the family nuclei. Given the lack of botanical research in the region, this research tries to investigate the material and immaterial dimensions of the use of plants in food and its relationship with food and nutritional security and sovereignty, with the population of three communities in the Kaxinawá Indigenous Land of Lower Rio Jordão /AC. For that, were used the follow methodologies as a priority: participant observation, semi-structured interviews, guided tours, focus group activities and traditional preparation workshops, among others. A detailed description of the traditional food system was obtained, as well as a survey of the food species found in the wild environment and cultivated. In addition, it was possible to register customs, diets, beliefs, taboos, songs and myths referring to the universe that connects plants to food. It was recorded the use of 145 species, in which 89 are native to the western Amazon - which shows the importance of local resources in the diet. The other plants (56) are cultivated and come from other areas of the Amazon forest, as well as from several regions Brazil and of the rest of the globe. In addition, 49 elaborated food preparations, all based on combinations of plant species, mainly from the various production units (slash-and-burn systems, home gardens, agroforestry systems and gardens) and 27 beverages (in natura and hot) were registered. The key role of women was not only in the preparation, but also in the conservation of food culture. Nonetheless, there was a gradual abandonment of certain traditional preparations. This is possibly due to the recent introduction of exogenous food in the villages, which causes the underutilization of certain food resources. From the reports of the participants of the research, it is noticed that these changes in the alimentary habit can cause as much in damages to the health as in dependence of external products and consequent increase in the solid waste generation. Thus, in the midst of a transdisciplinary proposal for knowledge dialogue, it is expected that this work will contribute both to the scientific systematization of the indigenous cultural tradition, as well as to guidelines on the conservation of Amazonian socio-biodiversity, so that it is useful to the process of autonomous construction of an alternative future for the Huni Kuĩ.