Potiguara’s culinary memories and local knowledge: cassava usages in ritual and daily food
Potiguara, cassava, casa de farinha, feeding, land
Aiming to discuss on feeding and food production land managing among the Potiguara of Paraíba, the present study is a description of their modes of choosing, selecting and managing land into places, housing, gardening spots, and inhabited spaces. It also describes modes of production of several cassava species and its consuption, seen by the Potiguara as strengthen food, sustanças, and real food. The research sought to identify the social role of cassava in domestic organization, in ecological and cosmological relationships and even in Politiguara’s sense of morality and politics. It consists in an ethnographic description of cassava eating habits and its meanings for the Potiguara built on observation of cassava and its derivatives gardening practices and preparation in the “casa de farinhas”. It also registers indigenous narratives about how knowledge on cassava’ gardens organization and their openings are transmited. Lastly it will problematize the centrality of cassava and its gardens in eating habits, social spaces maintenance inside the community, houses, rivers and in the “casa de farinhas”.