Food plants in Piagaçu-Purus Sustainable Development Reserve, Central Amazon

Abstract The Amazon constitutes a cradle of rich food biodiversity still poorly know whether in biological, nutritional or socio-cultural scopes. Traditional communities know and manage the amazon forest historically, preserving their cultural habits and contributing to biodiversity conservation. In this study, we performed a survey of food plants, food processing and differences between social standards in botanical knowledge through free listings, walking-in-the-woods and semi-structured interviews. The 220 identified species and all different ways of consumption demonstrate the giant potential of food plants, native of the Amazon in majority, for diversification of agriculture systems and food habits. This list of species should subside new research on the appreciation of native food plants and regional food. Patterns of knowledge among distinct social groups point to the importance of women in the incorporation of wild species in daily food and its valorization as a part of the culture and as a resource to guarantee food sovereignty.