Plants in the diet of rural inhabitants of the mountain surroundings of La Calera (Department of Colón, Córdoba, Argentina). A diachronic ethonbotanical perspective

Abstract

The work aims at characterizing the role played by food plants in the diet of rural peasants living in the mountain surroundings of Sierras Chicas, province of Córdoba. Methodologically, a process of research and obtaining ethnobotanical data in the field was followed, combining methods from the social and natural sciences and conducting complementarity qualitative and quantitative analyses. Semi-structured surveys were administered in 30 domestic units and 14 in-depth interviews were done. A total of 36 species and 42 different food applications were registered, excluding garden produce and farming vegetables; in addition to 121 present-day and traditional food preparations. A large number of culinary practices, recipes and traditional dishes compiled in this work coincide with the inventory dating back to the middle of the last century for the folklore of Cordoba’s food. In relation to food change, socio-cultural reasons related to lifestyle changes, rather than environmental reasons, were particularly visible. Finally, we found recipes increasingly less diversified, loss of ingredients and the use of traditional cultigens in domestic cooking.