Biodiversity is overlooked in the diets of different social groups in Brazil.

Food biodiversity is essential for improving nutrition and reducing hunger in populations worldwide. However, in middle and low-income countries, the biodiversity of food production does not necessarily represent food consumption patterns by population. We used Brazil, one of the world's megabiodiverse countries, as a case study to investigate the following questions: what is the prevalence of consumption of biodiverse foods in Brazil, and what are the socioeconomic factors that influence their consumption throughout the country? We used data from a Brazilian representative national dietary survey to estimate the frequency of food consumption of unconventional food plants, edible mushrooms, and wild meat, in according to socioeconomic variables. Thus, we investigated the socioeconomic predictors of Unconventional Food Plants consumption using methods of Machine Learning (ML) and multiple zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) regression. We showed that biodiverse food consumption in Brazil is low, just related by 1.3% of the population, varying in according to area, ethnicity, age, food insecurity, sex, and educational level. Our findings of low utilization of biodiversity suggest an important mismatch between the rich biodiversity of the country and its representation in the human diet.

Food insecurity in a Brazilian transgender sample during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Transgender people often live with social vulnerability, largely promoted by gender-based prejudice. Our aim in this article was to raise preliminary data on how the COVID-19 pandemic and perceived prejudice have contributed to the problem of food and food insecurity in the transgender communities in Brazil. We conducted a web-based cross-sectional study, in which 109 transgender people from all regions of Brazil participated. We used the Chi-Square test and Poisson regression modeling with robust variance to estimate the association between food insecurity and the investigated factors. In our sample, 68.8% of transgender people experienced food insecurity, of these, 20.2% experienced severe food insecurity. Our results showed that the difficulties in purchasing food in the transgender community predate the COVID-19 pandemic, yet that the restrictive measures adopted have also impacted overall access to quality food. However, the main explanations for food insecurity were income and employment. In predicting food insecurity, the experiences of prejudice must be considered, and give rise to the hypothesis that specific conditions to which transgender people are exposed explain, to some degree, their vulnerability to food insecurity.

Falhas do sistema alimentar brasileiro: contribuições da geografia literária para o fortalecimento da democracia alimentar / Failures on Brazilian food system: contributions from literary geography to enhance food democracy

Resumo A necessidade de reformular sistemas alimentares é uma constante nos debates das Políticas de Alimentação e Nutrição em todo o mundo. A ciência da Nutrição, nesse cenário, tem a oportunidade de avaliar sua abordagem hegemônica, ligada ao paradigma biológico, visando a um maior engajamento político nas questões que fragilizam seu sistema alimentar. Buscou-se, com este trabalho, demonstrar como o processo histórico e social de construção do sistema alimentar brasileiro relaciona-se com falhas de segurança alimentar e nutricional atuais. Trata-se de pesquisa qualitativa, que tomou como perspectiva de método a geografia literária. O território brasileiro foi dividido em sete manchas culinárias, porções do território que constituem regiões para o estudo social da alimentação. Compuseram seu corpus 27 trabalhos literários, de 20 escritores brasileiros, coletados e analisados com o apoio das dimensões conceituais definidas no estudo: espaços narrativos e objetos culinários. O mau uso da terra, a comoditização da comida e a oferta indiscriminada de alimentos industrializados foram listadas como as principais falhas no sistema alimentar analisado. A abordagem das Ciências Humanas e Sociais pode oferecer importante contribuição à Nutrição para maior protagonismo em problemas do sistema alimentar relacionados com aspectos socioculturais.

Abstract The need to reformulate food systems is a constant in the debates of Food and Nutrition Policies worldwide. The science of Nutrition, in this scenario, has the opportunity to evaluate its hegemonic approach, linked to the biological paradigm, aiming at a greater political engagement in issues that weaken its food system. This work aimed to demonstrate how the historical and social process of construction of the Brazilian food system is related to current food and nutritional security deficiencies. This is qualitative research, which took as a method perspective the literary geography. The Brazilian territory was divided into seven culinary spots, portions of the territory that form regions for the social study of food. Their corpus consisted of 27 literary works, from 20 Brazilian writers, collected and analyzed with the support of the conceptual dimensions defined in the study: narrative spaces and culinary objects. The misuse of land, the commoditization of food and the indiscriminate supply of industrialized food were listed as the main flaws in the food system analyzed. The Humanities and Social Sciences approach can offer an important contribution to Nutrition in order to play a greater role in food system problems related to socio-cultural aspects.

Atlas culinário da literatura brasileira: alimentação e cultura / Culinary atlas of brazilian literature: food and culture

Introdução: Acredita-se que pensar a alimentação e seu aspecto cultural no território brasileiro, como salienta a Política Nacional de Alimentação e Nutrição, possa ser uma tarefa apoiada pela literatura. Pensar na literatura a partir do geoespaço pode fornecer uma reflexão sobre a alimentação no território brasileiro. Objetivo: Analisar a relação entre território e alimentação em obras da Literatura brasileira. Métodos: A metodologia foi elaborada em três fases: (1) explorar as obras para ordená-las no mapa; (2) sintetizar essa literatura em cada mancha; e, (3) produzir uma reflexão sobre o que essa literatura expressa com relação a alimentação no território brasileiro. Resultados: Foram mapeados um total de 28 autores. Desses, conseguiu-se identificar 47 obras de interesse. Elencam-se, a partir delas, características para cada uma das manchas propostas a priori: (1) na culinária da "Costa" litorânea uma tendência à abertura para inovação, influências que chegavam via mar, sendo também fortemente marcada injustiças, geradas por séculos pelos latifúndios da monocultura; (2) na culinária do "Recôncavo baiano" um protagonismo de enfrentamentos culturais históricos, bem como da fome, fruto desta intensa cultura de subjugação e dominação; (3) na culinária "Caipira" a expressão de uma geoculinária indoors dos comedores familiares, com seus conflitos protagonizados em cena; (4) na culinária "Amazônica" o remanescente do homem que com a natureza coabita e dela extrai seu meio de vida, utilizando-a integralmente; (5) na culinária "Meridional", representada por uma longa faixa de terra, com expressões intensamente heterogêneas, da fome à abundância. Conclusão: Percebeu-se que sete manchas expressariam melhor o componente cultural alimentar no território, o quanto os autores expressam de seu território em suas produções artísticas, o que levanta o tópico das cartografias imaginárias e/ou heterotopias. Além disso, fala-se de uma geoculinária literária que pode auxiliar na tarefa de promover alimentação adequada e saudável (AU).

Introduction: It is believed that thinking about food and its cultural aspect in Brazilian territory, as highlighted by the National Food and Nutrition Policy, can be a task supported by literature. Thinking about literature from geospatial can provide a reflection on the food in the Brazilian territory. Objective: The objective of this research is to analyze the relationship between territory and food in works of Brazilian Literature. Methods: For this was thought of in three phases: (1) explore the works to order them on the map; (2) synthesize this literature in each spot; And, (3) produce a reflection on what this literature expresses about food in Brazilian territory. Results: A total of 28 authors were mapped as results. Of these, 47 works of interest were mapped. The characteristics of each of the spots proposed a priori are listed: (1) in Costa cuisine a tendency towards openness to innovation, influences that came via sea, and also marked injustices, generated for centuries by the latifundia of the Monoculture; (2) in the cuisine of the Recôncavo a protagonism of historical cultural confrontations, as well as hunger, fruit of this intense culture of subjugation and domination; (3) in the Caipira cuisine the expression of a geoculinary indoors of the family eaters, with their conflicts staged on the scene; (4) in the Amazonian cuisine the remnant of the man who cohabits with nature and from it extracts his way of life, using it integrally; (5) in southern cuisine, represented by a long strip of land, with intensely heterogeneous expressions, from hunger to abundance. Conclusion: It was noticed that seven spots would better express the food cultural component in the territory, as the authors express of their territory in their artistic productions, which raises the topic of imaginary and/or heterotopian cartographies. In addition, there is talk of a literary geoculinary that can assist in the task of promoting adequate and healthy food (AU).