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The Mycological Diet of the Yanomam Indians

1973; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 65; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00275514.1973.12019432

1557-2536

Ghillean Τ. Prance,

Lichen and fungal ecology

During 1971 I spent considerable time amongst the Yanomam (or commonly known as the Waika) Indians. We walked an Indian trail in Roraima Territory, Brazil, from Serra dos Surucucus to the Rio Uraricoeira. This trail passes through six different Yanomam villages. Since edible fungi are much sought after by these Indians, and since fungi play an important role in their diet, collections were made from several localities along the trail. The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to this interesting use of fungi, and to cite readily available herbarium material of the fungi used by the Yanomams. A summary of the known Brazilian Indian uses of fungi was given by Fidalgo (1965). In that paper Fidalgo suggested that fungi do not play an important role for the Brazilian Indians. This is certainly true in the majority of tribes which I have visited. However, the Yanomam of the northwest of Roraima Territory are exceptional in that they greatly value fungi as part of their normal diet. This is apparently the first report of such a use by the Yanomams as they are not listed by Fidalgo, who also did not list any of the species reported here. TABLE I summarizes the details of the four edible species which we collected. The Indians informed us that they also ate two additional species which were not in season in February and March, the months that we visited their region. The Neoclitocybe (10516) is boiled in water and then cooled before it is eaten. The Indians were most insistent that this agaric must be cooked and cooled, and they would not touch it unless thus prepared. The three species of Polyporus are eaten raw. All of the above fungi look rather similar to the nonspecialist. They are all colored white and grow on dead logs. The Indians, however, lmeyer, J. 1 69. Perithecial ha rs with ph alides in S athulospora phycoila. Myc logia 6 : 10 2-1015. 972. A revision of Halospha riaceae. Canad. J. Bot. 50: 1951-1963.