<b>‘Farm food, party food’: appropriation and food uses of buriti fruit in rural and urban contexts of Abaetetuba, Pará

Abstract

Eating, beyond a biological act, is a cultural act, result from the appropriation of natural resources that, transformed into food, gain the identity of the group that appropriates them. Thus, this study aimed to know the appropriations and food uses of buriti fruit in rural and urban contexts in Abaetetuba, state of Pará, municipality known as the ‘world capital of miriti’. To conduct the research, we used questionnaires, non-directive interviews and participant observation, performed with riverine people on Sirituba Island, rural area of the municipality and with mingauleiros of miriti at the ‘edge’ of Abaetetuba and cooks of the food court of the two latest editions of Miriti Fest. The food uses of buriti fruit were recorded both in the rural context, where it is considered ‘farm food’ and is part of all meals, contributing significantly to food security and sovereignty of the riverine people, and in the urban context, where it is consumed in the day-to-day mainly in form of porridge and, reframed, it becomes a ‘party food’ during Miriti Fest. Thus, we conclude that the buriti fruit is part of the food heritage of Abaetetuba, constituting as ‘food of all’, since it goes beyond the boundaries of the municipality.