This paper presents the results of a research in urban ethnobotany, conducted in a market of Bolivian immigrants in the neighborhood of Liniers, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires (Argentina). Functional foods and nutraceuticals belonging to 50 species of 18 families, its products, and uses were recorded. Some products are exclusive from the Bolivian community; others are frequent within the community, but they are also available in the general commercial circuit; they are introduced into it, generally, through shops called
This paper presents preliminary results obtained from a research line about Urban Ethnobotany developed in the Laboratorio de Etnobotánica y Botánica Aplicada (LEBA), Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata. The object of study is the botanical knowledge (BK) in the main metropolitan area of Argentina, the contiguous urban agglomerations surrounding Buenos Aires, the capital city of the country, and La Plata, the capital city of the province of Buenos Aires. The composition and the dynamics of the BK are evaluated. This knowledge guides the selection and use of plants, their parts and products deriving from them found in the context of the conurbation.
This survey has been developed in a Bolivian immigrant market located in the city of Buenos Aires, which provides the specific products for this community and it is also representative of the pluricultural context of the metropolitan area [
Researches on traditional markets have usually been addressed from the anthropology and the economic geography points of view as systems in which their components (actors and social networks, exchange and distribution, the products with their origin and destination) have to be explored [
Ethnobotany is a complex science due to both the diversity of issues and the variety of approaches that it includes. This plurality is framed in a broad concept of the discipline: the study of the relations between humans and their vegetal environment [
Most of the surveys about BK have been oriented to societies called
On the other hand, the BK of the inhabitants of the urban agglomerations has been considered
The characterization of the BK of urban agglomerations is deficient if only the nontraditional BK is considered; together with it (including the scientific knowledge), different kinds of BK within the pluricultural context related to different traditions coexist: those of immigrants from various origin and those that belong to a part of the population that keeps their “family traditions”. The BK of these segments is linked to traditions, but it does not constitute a TBK in the sense defined above. Thus, what we call
On this basis, urban ethnobotany gives an answer of how is the
In this paper, the survey data focused on species that are used, at the same time, for food and therapeutic purposes. In fact, the line between these categories of use is not always clear [
The concept of functional foods is susceptible of different interpretations that referred to their characteristics, their active components, or their regulatory framework [
Exclusive and frequent functional food and nutraceuticals in the market of Bolivian immigrants in Liniers, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Families/species | Local name | Parts/products | Uses | Situation | Samples |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cilantro | Fresh leaves | Food and condiment, as a substitute of parsley. Nutraceutical: diuretic, aperitive, digestive, and antispasmodic | Frequent | FB 430 (LEBA) | |
Carqueja | Fresh aerial parts (in bunches) | Beverage flavouring. Nutraceutical: tonic, digestive, hepatic, diuretic, febrifuge, and cordial; in external application, vulnerary | Exclusive | FB 416 (LP) | |
Carquejilla/ Carqueja | Fresh aerial parts (in bunches) | Same as above | Exclusive | FB 424 (LEBA) | |
Alcachofa | Leaves in bags and pills | For infusions. Nutraceutical: hepatic, cholagogue, choleretic, and depurative | Exclusive | JH H093, H094 (LEBA) | |
Manzanilla | Fresh aerial parts (in bunches) | Beverage flavouring. Nutraceutical: sedative, slimming, digestive, antispasmodic, emmenagogue, pectoral, emollient, and vermifuge | Exclusive | FB 427 (LP) | |
Quirquiña | Fresh aerial parts (in bunches) | Food and condiment, for soups, stews and sauces. Nutraceutical: diaphoretic, antispasmodic; in external application, vulnerary | Exclusive | FB 413 (LP) | |
Yacón | Fresh roots and jams | Food, as fruit or in salads (raw), for juices, syrups, jams, and teas. Functional food or Nutraceutical: antidiabetic | Exclusive | JH 6891 (LP), L006 (LEBA) | |
Yerba dulce | Fresh aerial parts or whole plant | Sweetener, for infusions and confectionary. Nutraceutical: antidiabetic and “antiageing” (antioxidant) | Exclusive | FB 415 (LP) | |
Huacatay | Fresh aerial parts (in bunches) | Condiment for soups, stews and sauces. Nutraceutical: diuretic, digestive, and antispasmodic. Insecticide | Exclusive | FB 403 (LEBA) | |
B | |||||
Papa lisa/ | Fresh tubers (sold loose or packed) | Food, for soups, stews, locro, and purees. Functional food: “healthy” food (antioxidant) | Frequent | FB 439 (LEBA) | |
B | |||||
Borraja | Fresh aerial parts | Food, eaten as a vegetable or in patty fillings; condiment in sauces, soups, and stews. Functional food or nutraceutical: expectorant, cordial | Frequent | FB 414 (LP) | |
B | |||||
Maca | Roots in powder or as flour (sold loose or packed) | Nutraceutical: tonic of the nervous system, to stimulate memory, to improve sexuality and fertility, against fatigue and stress, “antiageing” (antioxidant). It is added to food and drinks | Frequent | JH H091, H160 (LEBA) | |
C | |||||
Tuna | Arrope (syrup) (in bottles) | Food. Functional food o nutraceutical: diuretic, antispasmodic, emollient, and vermifuge | Exclusive | JH L002 (LEBA) | |
C | |||||
Paico | Fresh aerial parts (in bunches) | Condiment in soups, stews, and other foods. Beverage flavouring. Nutraceutical: tonic, aperitive, febrifuge, digestive, antispasmodic, carminative, hypotensive, emmenagogue, and vermifuge; in external application, antihemorroidal | Exclusive | FB 419 (LP) | |
C | |||||
Caiwa/ Achojcha | Fresh fruits. | Food, used as pumpkin, in stews and soups. Functional food or nutraceutical: antidiabetic, analgesic, and hypotensive | Exclusive | FB 417 (LEBA) | |
Cayote/ Alcayote | Fresh fruits | Food, as a fruit; also in soups and stews. Functional food or nutraceutical: antidiabetic | Exclusive | JH 565 (LP) | |
Chayote/ Papa del aire | Fresh fruits | Food, in stews, soups, fried, pies, and jams. Functional food or nutraceutical: diuretic, antidiabetic, and hypotensive | Exclusive | FB 418 (LEBA) | |
E | |||||
Sacha inchi | Seeds in snacks, liquid, ointment and in powder | Food. Nutraceutical: depurative, hypocholesterolemic, antioxidant; in ointment, for bone pain, and inflammation | Frequent | JH L029 (LEBA) | |
L | |||||
Toronjil/ Melisa | Fresh aerial parts | Condiment for sauces and various dishes. Nutraceutical: digestive, carminative, antispasmodic, cordial, and emmenagogue | Exclusive | FB 422 (LEBA) | |
Menta | Fresh aerial parts | Condiment for various dishes. Beverage flavouring. Nutraceutical: aperitive, stimulant, digestive, antidiarrheal, carminative, and vermifuge | Exclusive | FB 428 (LEBA) | |
Yerba buena | Fresh aerial parts | Condiment for various dishes. Beverage flavouring. Nutraceutical: stimulant, digestive, hepatic, cholagogue, and pectoral | Exclusive | FB 423 (LEBA) | |
Romero | Fresh aerial parts | Condiment for various dishes. Nutraceutical: antispasmodic, digestive, hepatic, depurative, and emmenagogue | Exclusive | FB 457 (LEBA) | |
L | |||||
Maní boliviano | Dry seeds (sold loose) | Food, for soups and stews. Functional food or nutraceutical: laxative, emollient, and pectoral | Exclusive | JH L007 (LEBA) | |
Garbanzo | Dry seeds and flour (sold loose) | Food, for soups, stews, and side dishes. Functional food or nutraceutical: diuretic, hypocholesterolemic | Frequent | JH L027 (LEBA) | |
Chañar | Arrope (syrup) (in bottles) | Food. Nutraceutical: antitussive, expectorant, anticatarrhal, balsamic, emollient, and antiasthmatic | Frequent | JH L005 (LEBA) | |
Regaliz | Dry chopped roots | Sweetener. Nutraceutical: anti-inflammatory, digestive, antispasmodic, hepatic, diuretic, emollient, laxative, expectorant, and antiasthmatic | Frequent | JH H084 (LEBA) | |
Soja | Dry seeds and flour (sold loose) | Food, for stews, soups, and salads. Functional food or nutraceutical: diuretic, hypocholesterolemic, digestive, and laxative | Frequent | JH L019 (LEBA) | |
Poroto japonés | Fresh beans | Food (cooked). Functional food or nutraceutical: astringent, antidiarrheal, digestive, and febrifuge | Exclusive | FB 404 (LEBA) | |
Lenteja común | Dry seeds (sold loose) | Food, for soups and stews. Functional food or nutraceutical: antianemic, digestive, and laxative | Frequent | JH L018 (LEBA) | |
Lentejón | Same as above | Frequent | JH L017 (LEBA) | ||
Lenteja | Same as above | Frequent | FB H05 (LEBA) | ||
Lenteja | Same as above | Frequent | JH L013 (LEBA) | ||
Lupín | Dry seeds (sold loose) | Food, for soups and stews. Functional food or nutraceutical: diuretic, vermifuge, emmenagogue | Frequent | JH L014 (LEBA) | |
Tauri/Tarwi | Dry seeds (sold loose) | Food, for soups, stews, purees, tamales, humita, and tortillas. Functional food or nutraceutical: diuretic, emollient, and vermifuge | Exclusive | FB H14 (LEBA) | |
Ajipa | Fresh roots | Food, as fruit (raw) or vegetable (cooked). Functional food or nutraceutical: diuretic, expectorant, and antitussive | Exclusive | FB 374 (LEBA) | |
Poroto pallar | Dry seeds (sold loose) | Food, for salads, soups, and stews. Functional food or nutraceutical: astringent, febrifuge, and emollient | Frequent | FB H13 (LEBA) | |
Poroto de manteca | Same as above | Frequent | JH L024 (LEBA) | ||
Poroto/ Chaucha | Dry seeds and fresh legumes (sold loose) | Food, for salads, soups, stews, and locro. Functional food or nutraceutical: diuretic, hypoglycemic, hypotensive, and resolutive | Frequent | JH L028 (LEBA) | |
Poroto | Same as above | Frequent | JH L023 (LEBA) | ||
Poroto | Same as above | Frequent | JH L021 (LEBA) | ||
Poroto | Same as above | Frequent | JH L022 (LEBA) | ||
Poroto | Same as above | Frequent | JH L008 (LEBA) | ||
Poroto | Same as above | Frequent | JH L010 (LEBA) | ||
Poroto | Same as above | Frequent | FB H11 (LEBA) | ||
Poroto | Same as above | Frequent | FB H12 (LEBA) | ||
Poroto | Same as above | Frequent | JH L020 (LEBA) | ||
Poroto | Same as above | Frequent | FB H10 (LEBA) | ||
Poroto | Same as above | Exclusive | FB 443 (LEBA) | ||
Arveja | Dry seeds and flour (sold loose) | Food, for salads, soups, and stews. Functional food or nutraceutical: digestive, febrifuge, against dermatosis, and contraceptive | Frequent | JH L026 (LEBA) | |
Algarrobo blanco | Arrope (syrup) (in bottles) and flour (sold loose). | Food. Nutraceutical: stomachic, laxative, diuretic, pectoral, and antiasthmatic | Frequent | JH L004 (LEBA) | |
Tamarindo | Fruit pulp. | Food and Condiment. Functional food or nutraceutical: digestive, refreshing, laxative, and purgative | Frequent | JH L001 (LEBA) | |
Haba | Dry and toasted seeds (snacks) and fresh legumes (sold loose) | Food, for salads, soups and stews. Functional food or nutraceutical: diuretic, emollient, resolutive, and against colds | Frequent | JH L015, | |
Poroto adzuki | Dry seeds (sold loose) | Food, for soups and stews, with cereals and rice, and confectionary. Functional food or nutraceutical: digestive, laxative, and hypoglycemic | Frequent | JH H101 (LEBA) | |
Poroto mung | Dry seeds (sold loose) | Food, for soups and stews. Functional food or nutraceutical: digestive, antidiarrheal, febrifuge, and tonic. | Frequent | JH L011 (LEBA) | |
Poroto tape/Caupí | Dry seeds (sold loose) | Food, for soups, stews and purees. Functional food or nutraceutical: diuretic, digestive, laxative, tonic, and galactogene | Frequent | JH L012 (LEBA) | |
M | |||||
Higo | Arrope (syrup) (in bottles) | Food. Functional food or nutraceutical: anti-inflammatory, emollient, vermifuge, and antioxidant | Exclusive | FB 453 (LEBA) | |
M | |||||
Eucalipto | Branches with fresh leaves (in bunches) | Beverage flavouring. Nutraceutical: expectorant, against colds, anticatarrhal, antitussive, antiasthmatic, and antirheumatic | Exclusive | FB 425 (LEBA) | |
O | |||||
Oca | Fresh tubers (sold loose or packed) | Food, for soups, stews, purees (cooked). Functional food: “healthy” food (antioxidant) | Frequent | FB 438 (LEBA) | |
P | |||||
Pasto limón/ Citronela | Fresh tillers (in bunches) | Condiment for food and beverage flavouring. Nutraceutical: sedative, stomachic, carminative, and antidiarrheal | Frequent | FB 407 (LEBA) | |
Maíz | Whole dry spikes or in powder (sold loose) | To make | Exclusive | FB 431 (LEBA) | |
Maíz | Dry grains (sold loose or packed) | For toasted corn. Functional food | Exclusive | FB 448 (LEBA) | |
Maíz | To make | Exclusive | FB 447 (LEBA) | ||
Maíz | For soups, stews and other dishes. Functional food | Exclusive | FB 450 (LEBA) | ||
Maíz | Same as above | Exclusive | FB 449 (LEBA) | ||
Maíz | Dry or cooked grains (sold packed) | For stews and other dishes, boiled in water. Functional food | Exclusive | FB 451 (LEBA) | |
Barba de choclo | Dry styles (sold loose) | Diuretic, hepatic, and antinephritic. | Frequent | JH H163 (LEBA) | |
R | |||||
Sultana | Seeds (seed coat) (sold loose or packed) | Beverage flavouring. Nutraceutical: antidiabetic, stimulant, antinephritic, and febrifuge | Exclusive | JH C095 (LEBA) | |
Noni | Pulp made flour or powder (loose or packed) and capsules | To make beverages or to add to infusions. Nutraceutical: stimulant of immune system, antidepressant, sleep regulator, “antiageing” (antioxidant), anti-inflammatory, and cordial | Frequent | JH H092, H161-H162 (LEBA) | |
S | |||||
Ají | Fresh and dry fruits (sold loose or packed) | Food and condiment, for sauces, soups, stews, side dishes, and patty fillings. Functional food or nutraceutical: tonic, analgesic, and stimulant of the digestive system | Exclusive | JH C096 (LEBA) | |
Ají | Exclusive | FB 433 (LEBA) | |||
Ají | Exclusive | FB 435 (LEBA) | |||
Ají | Exclusive | FB 421 (LEBA) | |||
Locoto/ Rocoto | Fresh fruits (sold loose) and in powder (packed) | Condiment for soups, sauces, stews, patty fillings, and various dishes. Functional food or nutraceutical: tonic, analgesic, and stimulant of the digestive system | Exclusive | JH C094 (LEBA) | |
Papa blanca, papa negra | Dried tubers ( | Food, for various dishes. Functional food and nutraceutical: cordial, hypotensive, and antispasmodic | Exclusive | FB 441-442 (LEBA) | |
Papines | Fresh tubers (sold loose or packed) | Same as above | Frequent | FB 440 (LEBA) | |
V | |||||
Cedrón | Fresh aerial parts or whole plant | Food, condiment and beverage flavouring. Nutraceutical: against gastrointestinal disorders, sedative, and hypotensive | Exclusive | FB 455 (LEBA) | |
Burrito/ Burro | Fresh aerial parts or whole plant | Beverage flavouring, fresh leaves are added to mate or used for make medicinal teas. Nutraceutical: sedative, digestive, antispasmodic, hepatic, carminative, and antiemetic | Exclusive | FB 456 (LEBA) | |
V | |||||
Uva | Arrope (syrup) (in bottles) | Food. Nutraceutical: refreshing, diuretic, astringent, and antidiarrheal | Exclusive | FB 454 (LEBA) |
Among immigrants, the integrative idea of “edible and healing plants” (functional foods and nutraceuticals included) is linked to their traditions, and it is invisible for the rest of the urban population. However, some functional foods and nutraceuticals prevalent within the immigrant community go on sale in the
The Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires or Capital Federal is placed over the West margin of the Río de la Plata in South latitude 34°36′ and West longitude 58°26′ [
The Bolivian immigration, caused especially for work reasons, settled first in the Northeast of the country, in the provinces of Jujuy, Salta, and Tucumán, working in the harvest. In the second half of the 20th century, their destinations diversified, and then, they settle again but this time in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires, working with the horticulture in the periurban areas and the manufacturing industry, commerce, and the construction business in the urban areas [
The preference of recent immigrants to settle in metropolitan areas is also seen in the age structure of population: in Capital Federal and Buenos Aires province, the Bolivian immigrants over 54 years old are about 15% of the total population, and in Jujuy, they are over 43%. In Buenos Aires city, the immigrants coming from Bolivia, Peru, and Paraguay are the 5% of its total population, and in the whole country, they represent a little less than the 2% [
The called
The market of Bolivian immigrants that is the object of study of this research is placed in the neighborhood of Liniers, in Buenos Aires, and it is known as
This market is a set of premises and street stalls that is specially concentrated in the street José León Suárez, one block away (a hundred meters) from the train station which is in the intersection of José León Suárez and Rivadavia Avenue. In the premises and street stalls, located in the sidewalk, food and medicinal vegetables and several products deriving from them are sold; there are also bars and restaurants of typical food and other shops of the sort in the cross and side streets. This receives the name of
The activity is more intense in the Liniers market during the weekend (in fact the vehicular traffic is stopped), when a lot of people from all over the city and nearby cities of the province of Buenos Aires go there to purchase products as well as a tour and meeting place. The market is visited by the members of the Bolivian community that ask for specific products to preserve their own traditional recipes (dietary and therapeutic), members of the Peruvian immigrant community, for similar reasons, neighbors who are not part of these immigrants segments who find it a cheap place with a wide and diverse selection and purchase of food and therapeutic, and, finally, some people from other neighborhoods of the city and different social sectors that have started to use this market as a place to buy functional foods and nutraceuticals.
Generally, for researches on traditional markets, the methodology proposed by Cunningham [
Informants were interviewed on the basis of saturation of information, so 50 market sellers (from a total of 95 salesmen) of both sexes and different ages have been included. They are considered
The record of the gathered data for plants that are sold in the Bolivian market of Liniers pointed to three distinct categories.
For the purpose of this research, the generalized items were not considered, because they are visible for everyone. The focus is placed on the exclusive items (invisible) and the frequent ones (in process of visualization).
Until the moment, 160 edible species commercialized in Liniers Bolivian market have been surveyed (vegetables, legumes, fresh and dry fruit, condiments, and beverage flavorings). Of that total, products or part of plants considered functional foods or nutraceuticals, exclusive or frequent within the market, belonging to 54 species of 19 botanical families are sold. These are shown in Table
It is relevant to remember that the exclusive or frequent character concerns to the products and not to the species. In this way, the “arrope de higo” (“fig syrup”),
The fresh vegetables commercialized in Liniers market are cultivated in homegardens of the conurbation periurban areas; most of them are situated in the Buenos Aires horticultural belt. This information was given by the interviewed informants, but it was also taken from researches about peri-urban homegardens developed in other research lines of the LEBA [
All the informats agree that the vegetal elements come from Bolivia and not from the Argentinean Northeast even if this region belongs to the same ecological and cultural Andean unit and the same edible and therapeutic plants are consumed; this is the case of, for example, the Andean edible roots
There are some fresh aerial parts of plants that are exclusive from Liniers market, like
Fresh products which are exclusive of this Bolivian market are the edible fruits of the Cucurbitaceae:
Andean microthermal tubers,
Among the Poaceae,
Arrope (syrup) from fruits of
The legumes that are sold in Liniers usually are found in the general circuit, but the dry seeds and flours obtained from some of them are less frequent; in Liniers market, they are frequent and they are sold loose. This is the case of the
The preserved pulp of
Even though it has not been dealt in this paper, a project is being developed, within LEBA, which aims to the understanding of the setting of exchange networks. The informants describe clearly defined routes to obtain the products that enable obtaining them very quickly (48–72 hours from their origin place, in Bolivia, to their outlet place in the Liniers market), and they make the selling of perishable products feasible. However, it has to be highlighted the incorporation of the plants that provide these fresh products so they can be incorporated to the stock-in-trade of the periurban vegetable gardens, which results in an increase in the agrobiodiversity of the area.
The research developed in Liniers market, identified with the segment of Bolivian immigrants (a group with a long history in Argentina but with a recent presence in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires), enables a characterization of the component of the UBK linked to traditions and its own dynamics. Besides, this market being placed in an urban area suggests that traditional markets are an important source of plant diversity, which adds variety and choices to the UBK, process that takes place in a short time and that is spread quickly to the rest of the population. In this way, elements previously invisible become visible. Considering
On one hand, typical elements of a community are incorporated through the market; in this particular case, well-known Andean crops, like “papines” (
The authors want to thank the integrants of LEBA, the directors and the personnel of LP Herbarium, the collaborators in the ethnobotanical field works, and the informants that were part of the surveys. They also acknowledge the anonymous revisers for their suggestions to improve the paper. This research was carried out with financial support of the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP) and of Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Técnicas (CONICET) of Argentina.