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      Food flora in 17th century northeast region of Brazil in Historia Naturalis Brasiliae

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          Abstract

          Background

          This article reports historical ethnobotany research conducted from a study of the work Historia Naturalis Brasiliae (Natural History of Brazil), authored by Piso and Marcgrave and published in 1648, with main focus on Caatinga of northeast region of Brazil.

          Methods

          Focusing the content analysis on the section dedicated to plant species with multiple uses, Marcgrave's contribution to the aforementioned work, this research had the following objectives: the retrieval of 17th century knowledge about the food uses of the flora in the northeast region of Brazil, including the taxonomic classifications; the identification of plant parts, their modes of consumption and the ethnic group of consumers; and the verification of the use of these species over time.

          Results

          The use of 80 food species at the time of the publication of the work is indicated, some of which are endemic to the Caatinga, such as “umbu” ( Spondias tuberosa Arruda), “mandacaru” ( Cereus jamacaru DC.) and “carnauba” ( Copernicia cerifera Mart.). It is noticeable that among the species listed by Marcgrave, some species still lack current studies indicating their real nutritional value. The present study is an unprecedented work because it introduces, in a systematic way, the food plants described in a study of 17th century Brazil.

          Conclusions

          Finally, this study makes information about plants consumed in the past accessible, aiming to provide material for studies that could develop new food products today.

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          Most cited references25

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          Medicinal plants of the caatinga (semi-arid) vegetation of NE Brazil: a quantitative approach.

          The caatinga (semi-arid vegetation) is a Brazilian biome with a significant but poorly studied biodiversity closely associated with a diverse cultural heritage. The present work focused on analyzing published information available concerning medicinal plants used by traditional communities. We sought to contribute to future phytochemical and pharmacological investigations by documenting the therapeutic uses of native caatinga plants within the aims of modern ethnopharmacological research. Twenty-one published works cited a total of 389 plant species used by indigenous and rural communities in northeastern Brazil for medicinal purposes. The relative importance index (RI) of each species in these inventories was calculated, and information concerning the plant's local status (spontaneous or cultivated), distribution, and habit was recorded. Of the 275 spontaneous (non-cultivated) species cited, 15.3% were endemic to the caatinga. A statistical relationship was verified between the relative importance of the species and their endemic status (p<0.05). Herbaceous plants were more numerous (169) than trees (90) or shrubs and sub-shrubs (130) at a statistically significant level (p<0.05). A survey of published information on the phytochemical and pharmacological status of the plants demonstrating the highest RI supported the veracity of their attributed folk uses.
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            Introduced plants in the indigenous Pharmacopoeia of Northern South America

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              Food taboos: their origins and purposes

              Food taboos are known from virtually all human societies. Most religions declare certain food items fit and others unfit for human consumption. Dietary rules and regulations may govern particular phases of the human life cycle and may be associated with special events such as menstrual period, pregnancy, childbirth, lactation, and – in traditional societies – preparation for the hunt, battle, wedding, funeral, etc. On a comparative basis many food taboos seem to make no sense at all, as to what may be declared unfit by one group may be perfectly acceptable to another. On the other hand, food taboos have a long history and one ought to expect a sound explanation for the existence (and persistence) of certain dietary customs in a given culture. Yet, this is a highly debated view and no single theory may explain why people employ special food taboos. This paper wants to revive interest in food taboo research and attempts a functionalist's explanation. However, to illustrate some of the complexity of possible reasons for food taboo five examples have been chosen, namely traditional food taboos in orthodox Jewish and Hindu societies as well as reports on aspects of dietary restrictions in communities with traditional lifestyles of Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and Nigeria. An ecological or medical background is apparent for many, including some that are seen as religious or spiritual in origin. On the one hand food taboos can help utilizing a resource more efficiently; on the other food taboos can lead to the protection of a resource. Food taboos, whether scientifically correct or not, are often meant to protect the human individual and the observation, for example, that certain allergies and depression are associated with each other could have led to declaring food items taboo that were identified as causal agents for the allergies. Moreover, any food taboo, acknowledged by a particular group of people as part of its ways, aids in the cohesion of this group, helps that particular group maintain its identity in the face of others, and therefore creates a feeling of "belonging".
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                J Ethnobiol Ethnomed
                J Ethnobiol Ethnomed
                Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
                BioMed Central
                1746-4269
                2014
                25 June 2014
                : 10
                : 50
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, Campus de Cuité, Centro de Educação e Saúde, Unidade Acadêmica de Educação, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Olho D´Água da Bica s/n, Cuité, Paraíba CEP: 58175-000, Brazil
                [2 ]Laboratory of Applied and Theoretical Ethnobiology (LEA), Department of Biology, Area of Botany, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Av. Dom Manoel de Medeiros s/n, Dois Irmãos, Recife, Pernambuco CEP: 52171-900, Brazil
                Article
                1746-4269-10-50
                10.1186/1746-4269-10-50
                4089562
                24965737
                501deead-9fe9-4bb1-a6f3-b58b064e8d74
                Copyright © 2014 Medeiros and Albuquerque; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

                This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

                History
                : 6 March 2014
                : 14 June 2014
                Categories
                Research

                Health & Social care
                food species,marcgrave,17th century,brazil,historical ethnobotany,ethnobiology
                Health & Social care
                food species, marcgrave, 17th century, brazil, historical ethnobotany, ethnobiology

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