Documentary portrays indigenous cuisine in Brazil – 05/04/2023 – Comida

Long before the Europeans arrived in Brazil with their sauces, pastas, meats and risottos, it is estimated that around 3.5 million indigenous people already lived here, with a strong food culture based on ingredients from the forest, such as cassava. , corn and other roots, leaves and fruits.

It is this culture, rich in flavors and ancestral knowledge, that the filmmaker and curator of Fiup – Festival Indígena União dos Povos, Nicole Allgranti, has recorded over the last five years during the filming of the documentary “Comida Ancestral – Food from the Origins”. The film was recently completed and is now seeking partnerships to make its distribution and exhibition viable.

To run the work, Allgranti visited villages across the country, recording the preparation of dozens of dishes of indigenous cuisine. Among many others, the director highlights the banana caiçuma with corn from the noke koi people and corn bread with cassava from the nukini people, both in Acre, in addition to the pequi broth with melted beiju and chestnuts prepared by Anna Terra and Watatakalu Yawalapiti, from the Xingu Territory—”one of the most wonderful foods I’ve ever eaten in my life,” she says.

“Long trips were made on trips to villages along the rivers in the interior of the Acre Amazon, along the Tarauacá, Gregório, Môa, Croa rivers, where we also prepared our food on the boat and this also became a scene in the film”, says Allgranti, highlighting the abundance of the natural food of the natives, with lots of potatoes, yams, peanuts, game, fish and fruits. “Our main objective is to show the importance of the standing forest for the health of indigenous peoples, and to encourage spiritual and gastronomic tourism in the villages.”

The film also features special appearances by sertanista Antonio Batista de Macedo, the current Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sônia Guajajara, and professor Vinnya Yawanawa, who narrate their concerns about the difficulties these peoples face in keeping their traditions alive.

The frequent invasions of their territories, for example, undermine the availability of food in nature and force the indigenous people to incorporate white man’s foods and customs, such as industrialized products.

Totally independent, “Ancestral Food” is the first feature of a trilogy dedicated to ethnic gastronomy, whose future productions should portray Jewish and Afro-Brazilian cuisines. For the time being, Allgranti is looking for investors to enable the distribution and exhibition of the first film.

“I’ve been making this film for five years, without public notices or sponsors. I’ve never worked so hard to make a film”, says the director. “We didn’t have a professional film crew, but people who, like me, live in the villages and have a deeper look into the lives of indigenous peoples. This makes a big difference in the result.”

The film’s team is formed by the indigenists and creators of Fiup, Erica Rosendo, Xinã Yawanawa, Nea Varinawa and Mariana Ribeiro. The documentary filmmaker Maria Luiza Aboim signs the executive production of the documentary, which was also co-directed by Môcha Noke Koi and Isaka Bari Huni Kuin.