Brief environmental and socio-cultural history of food diet in Brazil: from discovery to mid 20th century

Abstract

Food diet results from a combination of socio-cultural and environmental factors along history. In Brazil, the first act was the encounter of culinary traditions and agrobiodiversity of the Mediterranean with that of the American tropics, in the northeastern portion of the Atlantic Forest. Cassava was its central element. The second act was associated with the mining cycle in the Southeastern plateau, and maize and beans were the main elements. By the end of 1700, a Brazilian diet was set up, with predominance of tropical products. With the transfer of the Portuguese Empire headquarters to Brazil in 1808, the socio-cultural values of the court strongly influenced the diet at the expense of ecological adaptation and agronomic performance. The consumption of rice, associated whith higher social status, increased compared with maize, cassava and beans. The European immigration from the late nineteenth century onwards led to an increase in the use of imported wheat, so food consumption of urban Brazilians moved away from their tropical environment and became more dependent on the ports. One of the biggest challenges to improve food diet sustainability in Brazil is re-tropicalized it.