Exu: The Mouth that Eats All? The Paradoxes of Gifts and Counter-Gifts in Quimbanda

The present work analyses the importance of ritual foods in Quimbanda, especially food demands – that is, food that is not eaten, but is made for negative tasks based on the logic of counter-gift or Counter-Axé. We conducted fieldwork and interviews with Quimbanda masters and apprentices, and we engaged with a few of the authors who address the topic with regards to thoughts about the theoretical field that deals with religious foods in Afro-Brazilian religions. Religious food has a fundamental dimension in Quimbanda, being an act of transformation and a key element in religion.