This monograph tells the story of the boom in the acai fruit economy - from a rural staple to a chic health food delicacy in national and international markets - and examines the development of the production systems and commodity chains required to supply the burgeoning demand for this fruit. It also carefully reconsiders the contested and stigmatized history of the social identity of caboclos.
The Amazonian caboclos who inhabit the Amazonian estuarine floodplains are, in a very real sense, forest farmers. They have been transforming their forest environment, sometimes imperceptibly, for generations. The boom in acai provides an invaluable window through which the society, ecological knowledge and economic life of those who produce the fruit can be viewed.