FOOD CULTURE OF CUBAN FARMS IN AGROECOLOGICAL TRANSITION BENEFITED BY THE CUBA BIOMAS PROJECT"

• DOI: 10.22533/at.ed.973372330056

• Palavras-chave: -

• Keywords: -

• Abstract:

  More than 70% of the world's population is fed by family farming. Hence its main importance and the need to know the rural territories in order to listen; all this allows observing and recognizing tastes, traditions and needs of peasant communities, and at the same time promoting intervention actions that promote and dignify their ways of life and production on agroecological bases, including the enrichment of their food culture. The work presents the research carried out in 19 Cuban family farms in eastern and central Cuba, representative for the rest of family agriculture in the country due to their characteristics and history, and which have participated in different phases of the Biomas Cuba international collaboration project. Field visits were made and questionnaires were applied to more than 100 peasants to evaluate the eating habits and customs of peasant families, levels of knowledge about food, nutrition and food hygiene, food preferences, menu diversity, preservation of the Creole food, use of condiments, frequency of consumption of vegetables and fruits, among other aspects. Information was also collected on the management and condition of the farms and their level of self-sufficiency to evaluate their food sovereignty and socioecological resilience, as well as the characteristics of the territories in which they are located. The results showed that some production and food customs are maintained, which are remarkably rooted and the level of knowledge of these populations in relation to food culture has increased, although the consumption of vegetables and fruits is still insufficient; the consumption of conventional products is maintained and the high plant diversity for food purposes is not yet valued. In addition, the farms show a medium resilience, because, although they are largely self-sufficient for family food, autonomy is low due to dependence on external resources and an incipient strategy for agroecological transition.