Introdução - As comunidades negras rurais vivem desigualdades sociais de saúde e enfrentam problemas de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional (SAN). Este estudo coloca em perspectiva a alimentação das famílias de uma área quilombola em Aquiraz: CE explorando a dimensão alimentar do conceito de SAN sob os aspectos das práticas de consumo, produção, acesso e disponibilidade alimentares. Objetivos - Caracterizar saberes e práticas alimentares relacionados à segurança alimentar nutricional, identificar a alimentação e sua disponibilidade dentro de sistemas produtivos; descrever o perfil antropométrico dos indivíduos e verificar os determinantes socioambientais que constroem essa alimentação; descrever o comércio local; identificar os alimentos disponíveis, as formas de abastecimento e as relações existentes entre comerciantes e quilombolas. Metodologia - Estudo descritivo quanti-qualitativo realizado em distintas etapas, utilizando multimétodos e as técnicas: grupo focal, observação, fotografias, entrevistas e antropometria. Os alimentos de consumo foram identificados através de um questionário alimentar. Resultados - O padrão alimentar das famílias revelou uma boa variedade de alimentos e mostrou singularidades quanto à forma e obtenção de alimentos, classificação e utilização destes. Foi confirmada e reforçada a importância da macaxeira como alimento básico local, apesar das mudanças ocorridas nos sistemas alimentares de subsistência. Quanto ao estado nutricional, houve um predomínio da eutrofia e prevalência de excesso ponderal. Os comércios são estruturas familiares e tem uma grande variabilidade alimentar. A renda de aposentadorias, benefícios sociais e trabalhos rurais movimentam o comércio. As relações são de confiança e dependência. Os alimentos mais vendidos são arroz, feijão, açúcar, macarrão e farinha. Considerações finais - Os padrões alimentares e práticas persistem, mas apresentam elementos de transição da agricultura para o comércio. Alguns alimentos/comida são centrais para a identidade coletiva: macaxeira, farinha e feijão. O comércio garante variabilidade de alimentos e para o acesso cria mecanismos de facilitação de compra e venda. Na direção de SAN identificou-se a necessidade de políticas voltadas para o desenvolvimento local que promovam a segurança alimentar e nutricional através do incentivo à agricultura familiar, diminuindo a dependência de programas sociais / Introduction - The black rural communities in Brazil experience a life of social inequality and face serious food insecurity, nutritional and health problems. Taking into consideration this fact, this study seeks to put into perspective the feeding practices of a quilombola, a community in Aquiraz, a city in the state of Ceará. It explores the Nutrition and Food Security (SAN) concept by examining practices of consumption, production, access and availability. Objectives The aim of the present research can be outlined as follows: to characterize knowledge and food practices, to determine the availability of food within productive systems, to describe the anthropometric profile of families, to investigate the socio-environmental determinants of feeding practices, to describe factors such as the local market, types of food and trader/ customer relationship. Methodology - A quantitative and qualitative descriptive study was carried out in different stages, based on focusgroups, observation, photographs, interviews and anthropometry together with a food questionnaire. Results - The household dietary pattern of the local community was found to have a wide variety of food. Moreover, the study highlighted peculiarities with regard to type of food, its production, classification and use. Several changes were noted in the subsistence-food systems, but the importance of cassava as a local basic food was confirmed. With regard to the nutritional state of the people, there is a prevalence of eutrophia, and high level of underweight and obesity in adults. The local businesses are family-based and trade is driven by the money from pensions, social benefits and the wages of rural workers. The relationship between the traders and customers is based on mutual trust and dependence. There are different kinds of supply systems and storage facilities. The most widely sold foodstuffs are rice, beans, sugar, pasta and flour. Final Considerations The traditional eating patterns and practices of the community persist, but there are signs of a transition from agriculture to trade. Some foods are an essential feature of the collective local identity- manioc, cassava flour and beans. The traders ensure there is a range of food and create mechanisms that encourage the purchase and sale of their products. With regard to SAN there is a need for local development policies to promote food security and nutrition by reducing the families dependency on social programs

Introdução - As comunidades negras rurais vivem desigualdades sociais de saúde e enfrentam problemas de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional (SAN). Este estudo coloca em perspectiva a alimentação das famílias de uma área quilombola em Aquiraz: CE explorando a dimensão alimentar do conceito de SAN sob os aspectos das práticas de consumo, produção, acesso e disponibilidade alimentares. Objetivos - Caracterizar saberes e práticas alimentares relacionados à segurança alimentar nutricional, identificar a alimentação e sua disponibilidade dentro de sistemas produtivos; descrever o perfil antropométrico dos indivíduos e verificar os determinantes socioambientais que constroem essa alimentação; descrever o comércio local; identificar os alimentos disponíveis, as formas de abastecimento e as relações existentes entre comerciantes e quilombolas. Metodologia - Estudo descritivo quanti-qualitativo realizado em distintas etapas, utilizando multimétodos e as técnicas: grupo focal, observação, fotografias, entrevistas e antropometria. Os alimentos de consumo foram identificados através de um questionário alimentar. Resultados - O padrão alimentar das famílias revelou uma boa variedade de alimentos e mostrou singularidades quanto à forma e obtenção de alimentos, classificação e utilização destes. Foi confirmada e reforçada a importância da macaxeira como alimento básico local, apesar das mudanças ocorridas nos sistemas alimentares de subsistência. Quanto ao estado nutricional, houve um predomínio da eutrofia e prevalência de excesso ponderal. Os comércios são estruturas familiares e tem uma grande variabilidade alimentar. A renda de aposentadorias, benefícios sociais e trabalhos rurais movimentam o comércio. As relações são de confiança e dependência. Os alimentos mais vendidos são arroz, feijão, açúcar, macarrão e farinha. Considerações finais - Os padrões alimentares e práticas persistem, mas apresentam elementos de transição da agricultura para o comércio. Alguns alimentos/comida são centrais para a identidade coletiva: macaxeira, farinha e feijão. O comércio garante variabilidade de alimentos e para o acesso cria mecanismos de facilitação de compra e venda. Na direção de SAN identificou-se a necessidade de políticas voltadas para o desenvolvimento local que promovam a segurança alimentar e nutricional através do incentivo à agricultura familiar, diminuindo a dependência de programas sociais / Introduction - The black rural communities in Brazil experience a life of social inequality and face serious food insecurity, nutritional and health problems. Taking into consideration this fact, this study seeks to put into perspective the feeding practices of a quilombola, a community in Aquiraz, a city in the state of Ceará. It explores the Nutrition and Food Security (SAN) concept by examining practices of consumption, production, access and availability. Objectives The aim of the present research can be outlined as follows: to characterize knowledge and food practices, to determine the availability of food within productive systems, to describe the anthropometric profile of families, to investigate the socio-environmental determinants of feeding practices, to describe factors such as the local market, types of food and trader/ customer relationship. Methodology - A quantitative and qualitative descriptive study was carried out in different stages, based on focusgroups, observation, photographs, interviews and anthropometry together with a food questionnaire. Results - The household dietary pattern of the local community was found to have a wide variety of food. Moreover, the study highlighted peculiarities with regard to type of food, its production, classification and use. Several changes were noted in the subsistence-food systems, but the importance of cassava as a local basic food was confirmed. With regard to the nutritional state of the people, there is a prevalence of eutrophia, and high level of underweight and obesity in adults. The local businesses are family-based and trade is driven by the money from pensions, social benefits and the wages of rural workers. The relationship between the traders and customers is based on mutual trust and dependence. There are different kinds of supply systems and storage facilities. The most widely sold foodstuffs are rice, beans, sugar, pasta and flour. Final Considerations The traditional eating patterns and practices of the community persist, but there are signs of a transition from agriculture to trade. Some foods are an essential feature of the collective local identity- manioc, cassava flour and beans. The traders ensure there is a range of food and create mechanisms that encourage the purchase and sale of their products. With regard to SAN there is a need for local development policies to promote food security and nutrition by reducing the families dependency on social programs

My thesis examines food allocation and nutritional outcomes in a sample of 152 individuals in thirty-two households of sugarcane workers in the municipality of Gameleira, Northeast Brazil. Anthropometric data show that undernutrition and overnutrition coexist in the study population, and often within households – a consequence of the changes in diet and physical activity linked to the nutrition transition. Food allocation was examined using an indicator of the frequency of consumption of high status foods - non-staple foods which are considered more desirable than staples because they add variety and taste to an otherwise monotonous diet. I created an intra-household index of food allocation in order to observe each individual's consumption in relation to the average in his or her household at two seasonal points of the year. The sample was split into two groups, a group of more affluent households in which high status foods were eaten on the harvest and non-harvest dietary recalls, and a group of less affluent households in which no-one ate high status foods on the non-harvest recall. I found gender biases in the allocation of food in favour of men relative to women, and girls relative to boys, in the higher income group, but no gender biases in the group of less affluent households. In relation to age, I found biases in favour of children relative to adults in less affluent households, but not during seasonal shortage in the higher income households. The biases were greater in households with higher incomes, but lower in households in which women controlled some household income relative to households in which men controlled all income. I considered whether discriminatory behaviour underpins these biases, based largely on periods of observation in a sub-sample of six households, and concluded that food distribution operates as a powerful medium for the expression of differential status among men and women, but not among boys and girls, who have equal status in this population.