Saberes ancestrais e soberania alimentar: plantas alimentícias tradicionais da comunidade quilombola do Riacho do Mel, Iraquara-BA

Abstract

The Quilombola Community of Riacho do Mel, due to its intimate relationship with the natural environment, present in its surroundings, has built, throughout its history, a vast knowledge about traditional food plants. This knowledge was, and is, very important for the community's food sovereignty and in strengthening the ancestral culture. Therefore, this work aims to investigate and disseminate knowledge of traditional food plants consumed by the community, together with their ancestral knowledge. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with local residents, using the snowball technique, where each person interviewed indicates another person who is aware of the information asked. As a result of the interviews, citations were obtained from 83 ethnospecies of traditional food plants, as well as the traditional knowledge associated with them. Of all the ethnospecies mentioned, due to their flowering and fruiting period, up to the moment of defending this dissertation, 56 were collected, and some were identified and cataloged in the Herbarium of the State University of Feira de Santana HUEFS. From the perspective of a contextualized education for living in the semi-arid region, conversations and workshops were held, both at Colégio Estadual Professora Maria Menezes Ribeiro (Iraquara-BA) and at the Quilombola Community of Riacho do Mel. During the circles and workshops, the importance of consumption and knowledge of traditional food plants as an alternative for food sovereignty and conservation of local flora were highlighted, as well as the ethnospecies mentioned in this research. In addition to the ethnospecies mentioned, it was possible, through interviews, to identify relevant sociocultural aspects, such as, for example; ethnoterritories and ethnosols, singularities identified in guided tours, periods in which the community experienced food insecurity, the role of older women as guardians of knowledge about traditional food plants and finally the main dishes and ancestral recipes with traditional food plants. This study culminated in the creation of a booklet for scientific dissemination and also in the community itself and its surroundings, on the use and knowledge of traditional food plants. Furthermore, this work made it possible to set up a school herbarium at Colégio Estadual Professora Maria Menezes Ribeiro. The results were successful in the process of disseminating, in a participatory manner, the ancestral knowledge of traditional food plants from the Riacho do Mel Quilombola Community.