Sociobiodiversity and school feeding: an experience in the North Coast of Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract:

The National School Feeding Program is one of the most important policies for Food and Nutritional Security in Brazil, enabling the provision of healthy and adequate food to all students enrolled in the public basic education network and creating markets for family farmers. In this sense, based on the understanding that the insertion of food that dialogues with sustainability and food culture in school feeding could trigger several positive effects in the local context, this article seeks to report the initial actions of a larger project, developed in the municipality of Mostardas, which runs through the theme of school feeding and sociobiodiversity, describing concerns about the sociocultural and nutritional value of foods from sociobiodiversity, as well as the role of schools and school feeding for the local community. To this end, this stage of the research comprised two phases: the first consisted of a moment of interaction with the local actors, in which are seized stories, meanings, and knowledge about recipes based on sociobiodiversity foods, such as sopinha bean and catete corn, and the second that included the analysis of chemical composition and fibers of these foods. From the reports of the participants, it is possible to understand the sociocultural value of food and preparations that go back to their culture and their life history, as well as the importance given by the community to the school and school meals, concerning the training students’ eating habits. In addition to the symbolic apprehensions, the chemical characterization revealed the nutritional potential of sopinha bean and catete corn, which proved to be nutritionally superior when compared to other beans and corn of habitual consumption by Brazilians.

Keywords:
food and nutrition security; sociobiodiversity; school feeding