Culinary diversity in early modern Brazil revealed by residue analysis of ceramic artefacts

Brazil is a multi-cultural and ethnically diverse country shaped by a complex history of colonization, migration, slavery and economic intensification that has transformed it into one of the world's leading food-producing regions. The roles played by Indigenous, African and European populations, and their descendants, in this trajectory are preserved in the rich archaeological materials they left behind. In this study, we analysed lipids and proteins extracted from ceramic artefacts used by Indigenous, Luso-Brazilian, Afro-descendant communities and recently established German immigrants in Joinville and São Francisco do Sul (southern Brazil), dating to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Extracted molecules were characterized using state-of-the-art chromatographic and isotope ratio techniques, including gas chromatography flame ionization detection, gas chromatography mass spectrometry, gas chromatography–combustion–isotope ratio mass spectrometry, elemental analysis–isotope ratio mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. Our results show that users of industrially produced, wheel-thrown wares relied primarily on C3 plants and terrestrial animal products. By contrast, marine foods played a more prominent role in the cuisine of those using hand-thrown ceramics, associated with African, Afro-descendant and Indigenous groups. These results demonstrate how molecular archaeology can illuminate patterns of food access and distribution among coexisting communities, revealing historical processes that continue to shape contemporary culinary traditions in Brazil.