Rapid Ethnonutrition Assessment Method Is Useful to Prototype Dietary Assessments with a Focus on Local Biodiverse Food Plants

ABSTRACT

Ethnonutrition is the study of diets in the context of food systems of different peoples and cultures. Its scope comprises native or local categories used to classify food, and also includes biodiverse food availability, local culinary techniques, seasonality, and cultural perceptions related to diet with nutritional implications. Here, we describe a method useful for gathering ethnonutrition data to design dietary interventions or assessments, the Rapid Ethnonutrition Assessment (REA). REA is a tool that offers food and nutrition research a broad biocultural view of diets, considering food system-level, by prototyping dietary assessments with high efficiency. This method permits us to prevent misinterpretations that lead to wrong conclusions in nutritional research.

KEYWORDS:

• food and nutrition security
• diet
• food
• nutrition
• ethnography
• ethnobiology
• sustainable diets

Acknowledgments

We thank Aníbal Silva Cantalice who helped us with figure number one. We are also grateful to all members of the Carão community for their warm reception, the knowledge shared, and time spent with us. MCMJ is very grateful to teacher Jonathan for constant guidance in writing the best possible English.

Declaration of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.