“Quitanda” is an African term from quibumbo – kitanda, that means market, cookies, cakes, candy’s board or any other candy made in oven. In the study area, Santo Antônio do Rio Grande, Bocaina de Minas’s district, MG, this term is usually called from various types of cookies and cakes from oral tradition recipes prepared in firewood oven. The data were obtained from survey approach/participant observation and semi- structured interview methods. The firewood to burn in oven is the native wood from the area such as araucaria (Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze) and tarumã (Vitex montevidensis Cham.). The oven brush is made from alecrim-do-campo (Baccharis calvescens D.C.) and mané-josé (Croton migrans Casar.). The plants used as ingredients are cultivated by the community, like the inhame (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott.), cará-do-alto (Dioscorea bulbifera L.), and milho (Zea mays L.). The “fornada” tradition to prepare “quitandas” in this area has other implications beyond the food, like social relations and the means of local identity.
