Transição alimentar na Amazônia: um estudo de caso em Santarém - PA.

Abstract

Hereby it’s presented a study that observes Amazônia’s feeding transition as a central issue, mainly focused at Aldeia, Juá and Nova República’s neighbourhoods in Santarém city, Pará, via their oral histories. Throughout this themed literature, mostly built by nutritionists and social scientists, it is possible to identify that changes in local feeding habits towards industrial food happened mainly after the beginning of the Military Dictatorship (1964­1985), at a time filled with speeches that celebrated Amazônia and the investment necessities for its industry establishment. Caboclo population, who until 1960 lived across river’s shores on a fish­based diet, cassava’s derivatives, hunting and chelonians, lost domain over their harvest and fishing territory to the investors who would “save” their “uninhabited and undeveloped” land. Considering the interviews taken with people from different ages and social status, it was possible to analyse the consonances and contrapositions to the bibliography data consult ed concerning feeding habits in Amazônia and, nonetheless, verify through results if there was a significant growth of industrial food consumption as a substitute of local food, if their health has been compromised with food related diseases and, just as well, if interviewees migrated to Santarém city over the last years.