Local Knowledge, Food, Territory, and Biodiversity: Case Studies from Mexico and Brazil

In Latin America, rural regions populated by indigenous people have often been considered as poor or marginalized. In many cases, government agents do not perceive the adaptation strategies of these populations. Even today, they tend to consider traditional agricultural systems as backward, practices such as gathering as a survival of the past, and indigenous diets as inadequate. Case studies from Mexican highlands and the Brazilian Amazon presented here prove that, on the contrary, these populations have a deep knowledge of their environment, exploit it efficiently and sustainably, and foment and maintain biodiversity which is essential for their food security and sovereignty and has allowed their resistance and resilience over centuries. Their food is diverse, and their culinary techniques elaborated. Research led in other regions of the continent confirm these observations. In recent years, Amerindian food has eventually been revalued, at least in Mexico. Some actions have been led in Brazil but do not overcome yet prejudice against indigenous people.