Food habits related to wild edible plants of the Paraguayan people in the Atlantic Forest

Abstract

The ecological, cultural, and historical complexity of the Atlantic Forest of the Upper Paraná begs a closer look at the local food habits. This is the first study on the current use of wild edible plants by the Paraguayan Mestizo people, who live as migrants in Misiones, Argentina, on the Argentinean–Paraguayan borderland. This study documents 49 wild edible plants, of which wild fruits are the most appreciated food. It finds little connection between eating and healing, and wild edible plants do not appear to be used as medicinal foods. The knowledge of wild food resources is gendered, with men demonstrating greater competence in obtaining wild plants from a greater number of habitat types than women do. These people maintain Guaraní indigenous heritage in preserving the names and uses of numerous wild-grown plants, some of which were first documented in the eighteenth century. In addition, as 86% of the recorded species are native to the region, the Paraguayan people support native biodiversity by using and propagating wild food resources.