Dietary Changes over Time in a Cai&amp;#231;ara Community from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

Priscila L Maccord,Alpina Begossi

doi:10.5751/es-01873-110238

Abstract

Because they are occurring at an accelerated pace, changes in the livelihoods of local coastal communities, including nutritional aspects, have been a subject of interest in human ecology. The aim of this study is to explore the dietary changes, particularly in the consumption of animal protein, that have taken place in Puruba Beach, a rural community of caicaras on the Sao Paulo Coast, Brazil, over the 10- yr period from 1992-1993 to 2002-2003. Data were collected during six months in 1992-1993 and during the same months in 2002-2003 using the 24-hr recall method. We found an increasing dependence on external products in the most recent period, along with a reduction in fish consumption and in the number of fish species eaten. These changes, possibly associated with other nonmeasured factors such as overfishing and unplanned tourism, may cause food delocalization and a reduction in the use of natural resources. Although the consequences for conservation efforts in the Atlantic Forest and the survival of the caicaras must still be evaluated, these local inhabitants may be finding a way to reconcile both the old and the new dietary patterns by keeping their houses in the community while looking for sources of income other than natural resources. The prospect shown here may reveal facets that can influence the maintenance of this and other communities undergoing similar processes by, for example, shedding some light on the ecological and economical processes that may occur within their environment and in turn affect the conservation of the resources upon which the local inhabitants depend.

Highlights

Food utilization, a basic concern in all human societies, attracts the attention of scientists from many different areas (Messer 1984, Gossard and York 2003)
The results found here may be the only data available on dietary changes over time in communities of caiçaras, the name given to the descendents of Portuguese settlers and Indians who inhabit the coastal areas of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil (Begossi 2006), and may shed some light on the recent transformations that this type of Brazilian coastal communitiy has undergone
Once the residents could no longer carry out traditional rural activities, many of the local population looked for jobs in the closest major city, Ubatuba, about 20 km from Puruba Beach, but a few of them moved to other places, mainly because there are still portions of land being shared among the sons and daughters of the original inhabitants

Summary

Introduction

A basic concern in all human societies, attracts the attention of scientists from many different areas (Messer 1984, Gossard and York 2003). Even when part of the food consumed by a given local population is available in their environment, their consumption of it is not usually proportional to its local availability (Hawkes et al 1982). In small societies, especially in rural and indigenous populations, food habits can be profoundly linked to traditional subsistence patterns (Murrieta et al 1993, 1999, Fa et al 2002). Besides increasing the dependence of local populations on externally purchased products and altering their relationship with local resources, such changes can affect the nutritional status of a population, with a resulting decrease in the types of food eaten (Fleuret and Fleuret 1980, Pelto and Pelto 1983)

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