This page has only limited features, please log in for full access.

Prof. Renata Sõukand
Ca' Foscari University of Venice

Basic Info


Research Keywords & Expertise

0 Ethnobotany
0 Ethnomedicine
0 Ethnopharmacology
0 local ecological knowledge
0 Ecosemiotics

Fingerprints

wild food plants
Ethnobotany
local ecological knowledge
Ethnomedicine
Ethnopharmacology

Honors and Awards

The user has no records in this section


Career Timeline

The user has no records in this section.


Short Biography

The user biography is not available.
Following
Followers
Co Authors
The list of users this user is following is empty.
Following: 0 users

Feed

Journal article
Published: 18 June 2021 in Biology
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Local ecological knowledge (LEK), including but not limited to the use of wild food plants, plays a large role in sustainable natural resource management schemes, primarily due to the synergy between plants and people. There are calls for the study of LEK in culturally diverse areas due to a loss of knowledge, the active practice of utilizing wild plants in various parts of the world, and a decline in biodiversity. An ethnobotanical study in a border region of Latvia, characterised by diverse natural landscapes and people with deep spiritual attachments to nature, provided an opportunity for such insight, as well as the context to analyse wild food plant usages among different sociocultural groups, allowing us to explore the differences among these groups. Semi-structured interviews were carried out as part of a wider ethnobotanical field study to obtain information about wild food plants and their uses. The list of wild food plant uses, derived from 72 interviews, revealed a high level of homogenisation (in regards to knowledge) among the study groups, and that many local uses of wild food plants are still actively practiced. People did not gather plants as a recreational activity but rather as a source of diet diversification. The results provide evidence of the importance of safeguarding ecological and cultural diversity due to high local community dependency on natural resources.

ACS Style

Baiba Prūse; Andra Simanova; Ieva Mežaka; Raivo Kalle; Julia Prakofjewa; Inga Holsta; Signe Laizāne; Renata Sõukand. Active Wild Food Practices among Culturally Diverse Groups in the 21st Century across Latgale, Latvia. Biology 2021, 10, 551 .

AMA Style

Baiba Prūse, Andra Simanova, Ieva Mežaka, Raivo Kalle, Julia Prakofjewa, Inga Holsta, Signe Laizāne, Renata Sõukand. Active Wild Food Practices among Culturally Diverse Groups in the 21st Century across Latgale, Latvia. Biology. 2021; 10 (6):551.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Baiba Prūse; Andra Simanova; Ieva Mežaka; Raivo Kalle; Julia Prakofjewa; Inga Holsta; Signe Laizāne; Renata Sõukand. 2021. "Active Wild Food Practices among Culturally Diverse Groups in the 21st Century across Latgale, Latvia." Biology 10, no. 6: 551.

Research article
Published: 13 May 2021 in Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Due to global change and the migration crisis both needing rapid attention, there has been growing debate about the drivers of change in the diet of migrants. Our study aimed to evaluate the consequences of forced resettlement on local ecological knowledge related to wild food plants among forcefully resettled Yaghnobi people in Tajikistan. We conducted 49 semi-structured in-depth interviews and recorded 27 wild food taxa and five unidentified folk taxa used by Yaghnobis and Tajiks in the villages surrounding Yaghnob Valley (including families ressetteled from Yaghnob Valley) in central Tajikitsan. The comparision between the two considered groups showed a high level of Tajikisation among Yaghnobis, both those who live alongside Tajiks as well as those living separately. The few families that still have distinct Yaghnobi plant uses are the ones which were given the opportunity to choose the spot in which to relocate and still visit the Yaghnob Valley regularly. On the basis of our study, we suggest that affording a choice of where to relocate is better than no choice, as the loss of motivation also affects the use of wild food plants. Given the pressure of the possible relocation of many groups of people in the light of global change, we suggest focusing efforts on studying similar cases in order to minimize the damage caused to people by relocation. The trauma of forced relocation, even just a few kilometers away, directly or indirectly affects wild food plant use and with this the food security of the community.

ACS Style

Renata Sõukand; Julia Prakofjewa; Andrea Pieroni. The trauma of no-choice: Wild food ethnobotany in Yaghnobi and Tajik villages, Varzob Valley, Tajikistan. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 2021, 1 -13.

AMA Style

Renata Sõukand, Julia Prakofjewa, Andrea Pieroni. The trauma of no-choice: Wild food ethnobotany in Yaghnobi and Tajik villages, Varzob Valley, Tajikistan. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution. 2021; ():1-13.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Renata Sõukand; Julia Prakofjewa; Andrea Pieroni. 2021. "The trauma of no-choice: Wild food ethnobotany in Yaghnobi and Tajik villages, Varzob Valley, Tajikistan." Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution , no. : 1-13.

Journal article
Published: 06 April 2021 in Biology
Reads 0
Downloads 0

An ethnobotanical field study focusing on traditional wild food botanical taxa was carried out in Kaniguram, South Waziristan, Pakistan, among Ormur (or Burki or Baraki) peoples, which represent a diasporic minority group, as well as among the surrounding Pashtuns. Through sixty semi-structured interviews, fifty-two wild food plants (taxa) were recorded, and they were primarily used raw as snacks and cooked as vegetables. Comparative analysis found a remarkable overlap of the quoted plant uses between the two studied groups, which may reflect complex socio-cultural adaptations Ormur speakers faced. Ormur people retain a rich knowledge of anthropogenic weeds and the phytonyms reveal important commonalities with Persian and Kurdish phytonyms, which may indicate their possible horticultural-driven human ecological origin from the Middle East. Some novel or rare food uses of Cirsium arvense, Nannorrhops ritchiana, Periploca aphylla, Perovskia atriplicifolia, Viscum album, Oxalis corniculata and Withania coagulans were documented. Since the Ormuri language represents a moribund language, still spoken by only a few thousand speakers in NW Pakistan and Afghanistan, it is recommended that the traditional bio-cultural and gastronomical heritage of this minority group be appropriately protected and bolstered in future rural development programs.

ACS Style

Muhammad Aziz; Zahid Ullah; Mohamed Al-Fatimi; Matteo De Chiara; Renata Sõukand; Andrea Pieroni. On the Trail of an Ancient Middle Eastern Ethnobotany: Traditional Wild Food Plants Gathered by Ormuri Speakers in Kaniguram, NW Pakistan. Biology 2021, 10, 302 .

AMA Style

Muhammad Aziz, Zahid Ullah, Mohamed Al-Fatimi, Matteo De Chiara, Renata Sõukand, Andrea Pieroni. On the Trail of an Ancient Middle Eastern Ethnobotany: Traditional Wild Food Plants Gathered by Ormuri Speakers in Kaniguram, NW Pakistan. Biology. 2021; 10 (4):302.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Muhammad Aziz; Zahid Ullah; Mohamed Al-Fatimi; Matteo De Chiara; Renata Sõukand; Andrea Pieroni. 2021. "On the Trail of an Ancient Middle Eastern Ethnobotany: Traditional Wild Food Plants Gathered by Ormuri Speakers in Kaniguram, NW Pakistan." Biology 10, no. 4: 302.

Journal article
Published: 11 March 2021 in Foods
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Recent ethnobotanical studies have raised the hypothesis that religious affiliation can, in certain circumstances, influence the evolution of the use of wild food plants, given that it shapes kinship relations and vertical transmission of traditional/local environmental knowledge. The local population living in Jhelum District, Punjab, Pakistan comprises very diverse religious and linguistic groups. A field study about the uses of wild food plants was conducted in the district. This field survey included 120 semi-structured interviews in 27 villages, focusing on six religious groups (Sunni and Shia Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and Ahmadis). We documented a total of 77 wild food plants and one mushroom species which were used by the local population mainly as cooked vegetables and raw snacks. The cross-religious comparison among six groups showed a high homogeneity of use among two Muslim groups (Shias and Sunnis), while the other four religious groups showed less extensive, yet diverse uses, staying within the variety of taxa used by Islamic groups. No specific plant cultural markers (i.e., plants gathered only by one community) could be identified, although there were a limited number of group-specific uses of the shared plants. Moreover, the field study showed erosion of the knowledge among the non-Muslim groups, which were more engaged in urban occupations and possibly underwent stronger cultural adaption to a modern lifestyle. The recorded traditional knowledge could be used to guide future development programs aimed at fostering food security and the valorization of the local bio-cultural heritage.

ACS Style

Muhammad Majeed; Khizar Bhatti; Andrea Pieroni; Renata Sõukand; Rainer Bussmann; Arshad Khan; Sunbal Chaudhari; Muhammad Aziz; Muhammad Amjad. Gathered Wild Food Plants among Diverse Religious Groups in Jhelum District, Punjab, Pakistan. Foods 2021, 10, 594 .

AMA Style

Muhammad Majeed, Khizar Bhatti, Andrea Pieroni, Renata Sõukand, Rainer Bussmann, Arshad Khan, Sunbal Chaudhari, Muhammad Aziz, Muhammad Amjad. Gathered Wild Food Plants among Diverse Religious Groups in Jhelum District, Punjab, Pakistan. Foods. 2021; 10 (3):594.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Muhammad Majeed; Khizar Bhatti; Andrea Pieroni; Renata Sõukand; Rainer Bussmann; Arshad Khan; Sunbal Chaudhari; Muhammad Aziz; Muhammad Amjad. 2021. "Gathered Wild Food Plants among Diverse Religious Groups in Jhelum District, Punjab, Pakistan." Foods 10, no. 3: 594.

Journal article
Published: 08 February 2021 in Foods
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Socio-economic changes impact local ethnobotanical knowledge as much as the ecological ones. During an ethnobotanical field study in 2018–2019, we interviewed 25 Setos and 38 Russians in the Pechorsky District of Pskov Oblast to document changes in wild plant use within the last 70 years according to the current and remembered practices. Of the 71 botanical taxa reported, the most popular were Vaccinium vitis-idaea, Vaccinium oxycoccos, Vaccinium myrtillus, Betula spp., and Rumex acetosa. The obtained data was compared with that of 37 Setos and 35 Estonians interviewed at the same time on the other side of the border. Our data revealed a substantial level of homogeneity within the plants used by three or more people with 30 of 56 plants overlapping across all four groups. However, Seto groups are ethnobotanically closer to the dominant ethnic groups immediately surrounding them than they are to Setos across the border. Further study of minor ethnic groups in a post-Soviet context is needed, paying attention to knowledge transmission patterns.

ACS Style

Olga Belichenko; Valeria Kolosova; Denis Melnikov; Raivo Kalle; Renata Sõukand. Language of Administration as a Border: Wild Food Plants Used by Setos and Russians in Pechorsky District of Pskov Oblast, NW Russia. Foods 2021, 10, 367 .

AMA Style

Olga Belichenko, Valeria Kolosova, Denis Melnikov, Raivo Kalle, Renata Sõukand. Language of Administration as a Border: Wild Food Plants Used by Setos and Russians in Pechorsky District of Pskov Oblast, NW Russia. Foods. 2021; 10 (2):367.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Olga Belichenko; Valeria Kolosova; Denis Melnikov; Raivo Kalle; Renata Sõukand. 2021. "Language of Administration as a Border: Wild Food Plants Used by Setos and Russians in Pechorsky District of Pskov Oblast, NW Russia." Foods 10, no. 2: 367.

Journal article
Published: 01 February 2021 in Sustainability
Reads 0
Downloads 0

The issue of foraging for wild food plants among migrants and relocated communities is an important one in environmental studies, especially in order to understand how human societies rearrange their practices linked to nature and how they adapt to new socioecological systems. This paper addresses the complexity of Traditional/Local Environmental Knowledge (LEK) changes associated to wild vegetables and herbs across four different groups of Afghan refugees living in Mansehra District, NW Pakistan, since 1985. Via interviews with eighty study participants, forty-eight wild vegetables and herbs were recorded, representing both the past and present wild plant gastronomic heritage. The majority of the quoted wild plant ingredients were only remembered and no longer actively used, thus suggesting an important erosion of LEK. Moreover, the number of wild vegetables and herbs currently used by Afghan Pashtuns engaged in farming activities is much higher than those reported by the other groups. The findings indicate that practiced LEK, i.e., knowledge that is continuously kept alive via constant contact with the natural environment, is essential for the resilience of the biocultural heritage, which is, however, also influenced by the rearrangement of social life adopted by refugees after relocation.

ACS Style

Ajmal Manduzai; Arshad Abbasi; Shujaul Khan; Abdullah Abdullah; Julia Prakofjewa; Mohammad Amini; Muhammad Amjad; Kevin Cianfaglione; Michele Fontefrancesco; Renata Soukand; Andrea Pieroni. The Importance of Keeping Alive Sustainable Foraging Practices: Wild Vegetables and Herbs Gathered by Afghan Refugees Living in Mansehra District, Pakistan. Sustainability 2021, 13, 1500 .

AMA Style

Ajmal Manduzai, Arshad Abbasi, Shujaul Khan, Abdullah Abdullah, Julia Prakofjewa, Mohammad Amini, Muhammad Amjad, Kevin Cianfaglione, Michele Fontefrancesco, Renata Soukand, Andrea Pieroni. The Importance of Keeping Alive Sustainable Foraging Practices: Wild Vegetables and Herbs Gathered by Afghan Refugees Living in Mansehra District, Pakistan. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (3):1500.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ajmal Manduzai; Arshad Abbasi; Shujaul Khan; Abdullah Abdullah; Julia Prakofjewa; Mohammad Amini; Muhammad Amjad; Kevin Cianfaglione; Michele Fontefrancesco; Renata Soukand; Andrea Pieroni. 2021. "The Importance of Keeping Alive Sustainable Foraging Practices: Wild Vegetables and Herbs Gathered by Afghan Refugees Living in Mansehra District, Pakistan." Sustainability 13, no. 3: 1500.

Journal article
Published: 08 January 2021 in Foods
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Local cuisine is an important reservoir of local ecological knowledge shaped by a variety of socio-cultural, economic, and ecological factors. The aim was to document and compare the current use of wild and semi-cultivated plant food taxa by Romanians living in Romania and Ukraine. These two groups share similar ecological conditions and historically belonged to the same province, but were divided in the 1940s by the creation of a state border. We conducted 60 semi-structured interviews with rural residents. The contemporary use of 46 taxa (plus 5 cultivated taxa with uncommon uses), belonging to 20 families, for food consumption were recorded. Romanians in Romanian Bukovina used 27 taxa belonging to 15 families, while in Ukraine they used 40 taxa belonging to 18 families. Jams, sarmale, homemade beer, and the homemade alcoholic drink “socată” are used more by Romanians in Southern Bukovina, while tea, soups, and birch sap are used more in Northern Bukovina. We discuss the strong influence of socio-political scenarios on the use of wild food plants. Cross-ethnic marriages, as well as markets and women’s networks, i.e., “neighbors do so”, may have had a great impact on changes in wild food use. In addition, rapid changes in lifestyle (open work market and social migration) are other explanations for the abandonment of wild edible plants.

ACS Style

Nataliya Stryamets; Giulia Mattalia; Andrea Pieroni; Ihor Khomyn; Renata Sõukand. Dining Tables Divided by a Border: The Effect of Socio-Political Scenarios on Local Ecological Knowledge of Romanians Living in Ukrainian and Romanian Bukovina. Foods 2021, 10, 126 .

AMA Style

Nataliya Stryamets, Giulia Mattalia, Andrea Pieroni, Ihor Khomyn, Renata Sõukand. Dining Tables Divided by a Border: The Effect of Socio-Political Scenarios on Local Ecological Knowledge of Romanians Living in Ukrainian and Romanian Bukovina. Foods. 2021; 10 (1):126.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Nataliya Stryamets; Giulia Mattalia; Andrea Pieroni; Ihor Khomyn; Renata Sõukand. 2021. "Dining Tables Divided by a Border: The Effect of Socio-Political Scenarios on Local Ecological Knowledge of Romanians Living in Ukrainian and Romanian Bukovina." Foods 10, no. 1: 126.

Original article
Published: 01 December 2020 in Economic Botany
Reads 0
Downloads 0

The Inextricable Link Between Food and Linguistic Diversity: Wild Food Plants Among Diverse Minorities in Northeast Georgia, Caucasus. Divergences in the categorization and use of wild food plants among ethnic and linguistic groups living within the same environment are prototypical for the dual nature of biocultural diversity, which is generally richer on ecological and cultural edges. We interviewed 136 people from seven ethnolinguistic groups living in Georgia documenting the use of wild food plants. The results show the inextricable link between food and linguistic diversity; moreover, we observed a greater number of commonly used plants among Christian communities, as Muslim communities shared just one taxon widely used in all regions. Comparison with other Georgian regions and selected ethnic groups living in Azerbaijan showed lower use of wild food plants. Future investigations in the region should widen the ethnolinguistic research to include other aspects of ethnobiology and to dedicate more in-depth studies to understanding the underlying reasons for homogenization and plant-use erosion.

ACS Style

Andrea Pieroni; Renata Sõukand; Rainer W. Bussmann. The Inextricable Link Between Food and Linguistic Diversity: Wild Food Plants among Diverse Minorities in Northeast Georgia, Caucasus. Economic Botany 2020, 74, 379 -397.

AMA Style

Andrea Pieroni, Renata Sõukand, Rainer W. Bussmann. The Inextricable Link Between Food and Linguistic Diversity: Wild Food Plants among Diverse Minorities in Northeast Georgia, Caucasus. Economic Botany. 2020; 74 (4):379-397.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Andrea Pieroni; Renata Sõukand; Rainer W. Bussmann. 2020. "The Inextricable Link Between Food and Linguistic Diversity: Wild Food Plants among Diverse Minorities in Northeast Georgia, Caucasus." Economic Botany 74, no. 4: 379-397.

Journal article
Published: 14 August 2020 in Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Research on the folk categorization of nature in preliterate societies in Europe is complicated due to the fragmentation of the information available and is rarely undertaken. Yet the data is valuable and may provide, in certain circumstances, important insights, if not into novel medicines, then into the historical logic of selection and memorisation of plants useful from a medicinal perspective. We aim to understand the ethnobotany of a preliterate society by analysing the emic (derived from people) perspective on nature-related culture of one of Europe’s smaller nations, whose written language and culture was shaped in the 18th-19th centuries by other, larger nations of Europe, and thus from the etic (academic) perspective. We attempt to identify how folk categorization is reflected in the relationships between plant names and uses and to map the structure of those relationships. We base our analysis on one of the oldest ethnobotanical manuscripts and herbaria of the Baltic governorates, compiled in 1831 by an amateur botanist, Baltic German Pastor Johann Heinrich Rosenplänter (1782–1846), which was derived from conversations with his parishioners from the tiny Pärnu parish. The historical dataset was critically analysed from an ethnobotanical perspective in light of recent identifications of the herbarium specimens. Although the Rosenplänter collection is fragmentary, the logic of plant categorization by non-literate peasants at that time is clearly seen in the data. Plants preserved in the herbarium were predominantly used for ethno-medicinal, food or ethno-veterinary purposes, such as treating chronic skin and joint diseases as well as severe acute diseases in humans and animals. Among 129 folk taxa analysed, more than one third had apparent purpose-related plant names providing clear links to their use, whereas a few multifunctional plants had several names reflecting diverse uses. For example, Hypericum spp., which was used in three different ways, had three semantically distinct names. However, among the plants that Rosenplänter collected, there were also some that were simply named and described by people but lacked any usability data (e.g., Trollius europaeus), meaning that use as such was not the primary criterion for recognising a plant. The web-like structure of preliterate thinking in plant-related knowledge reveals a deep relationship with the environment and the interpretation of new elements through familiar natural objects. Our findings demonstrate that historical ethnobotanical data, if thoughtfully analysed, can be used not only for comparative purposes, but also for understanding the logic of preliterate thinking. We encourage future in-depth studies of historical ethnobotanical data in Europe in order to understand the relationship between nature and culture of native European populations.

ACS Style

Raivo Kalle; Renata Sõukand. The name to remember: Flexibility and contextuality of preliterate folk plant categorization from the 1830s, in Pernau, Livonia, historical region on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 2020, 264, 113254 .

AMA Style

Raivo Kalle, Renata Sõukand. The name to remember: Flexibility and contextuality of preliterate folk plant categorization from the 1830s, in Pernau, Livonia, historical region on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 2020; 264 ():113254.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Raivo Kalle; Renata Sõukand. 2020. "The name to remember: Flexibility and contextuality of preliterate folk plant categorization from the 1830s, in Pernau, Livonia, historical region on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea." Journal of Ethnopharmacology 264, no. : 113254.

Journal article
Published: 29 July 2020 in Foods
Reads 0
Downloads 0

While the current consumption of wild food plants in the taiga of the American continent is a relatively well-researched phenomenon, the European taiga area is heavily underrepresented in the scientific literature. The region is important due to its distinctive ecological conditions with restricted seasonal availability of wild plants. During an ethnobotanical field study conducted in 2018–2019, 73 people from ten settlements in the Republic of Karelia were interviewed. In addition, we conducted historical data analysis and ethnographical source analysis. The most widely consumed wild food plants are forest berries (three Vaccinium species, and Rubus chamaemorus), sap-yielding Betula and acidic Rumex. While throughout the lifetime of the interviewees the list of used plants did not change considerably, the ways in which they are processed and stored underwent several stages in function of centrally available goods, people’s welfare, technical progress, and ideas about the harm and benefit of various products and technological processes. Differences in the food use of wild plants among different ethnic groups living in the region were on the individual level, while all groups exhibited high variability in the methods of preparation of most used berries. The sustainability of berry use over time has both ecological and economical factors.

ACS Style

Valeria Kolosova; Olga Belichenko; Alexandra Rodionova; Denis Melnikov; Renata Sõukand. Foraging in Boreal Forest: Wild Food Plants of the Republic of Karelia, NW Russia. Foods 2020, 9, 1015 .

AMA Style

Valeria Kolosova, Olga Belichenko, Alexandra Rodionova, Denis Melnikov, Renata Sõukand. Foraging in Boreal Forest: Wild Food Plants of the Republic of Karelia, NW Russia. Foods. 2020; 9 (8):1015.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Valeria Kolosova; Olga Belichenko; Alexandra Rodionova; Denis Melnikov; Renata Sõukand. 2020. "Foraging in Boreal Forest: Wild Food Plants of the Republic of Karelia, NW Russia." Foods 9, no. 8: 1015.

Journal article
Published: 23 June 2020 in Sustainability
Reads 0
Downloads 0

In Sardinia, pastoralism has been at the heart of cultural identity for millennia. Such activity has shaped the landscape by sustainably managing its elements over the centuries. We conducted 30 semi-structured interviews regarding the uses of wild plants as well as their contribution to sheep breeding over the last few decades in two villages of Barbagia di Ollolai. We recorded the use of 73 taxa belonging to 35 families. Over one-third of the vernacular food taxa were mentioned as raw snacks. Specifically, 22% were used only as raw snacks, while another 22% were used as raw snacks in addition to other uses. Indeed, there is a subcategory of raw snacks represented by thistle plants, named cardu, referring to thorny herbaceous taxa. Cardu are often related to the pastoral realm in the Mediterranean Basin as they are gathered, often with the help of a knife, peeled with the blade, and consumed on the spot while grazing sheep, but ultimately, their crunchiness provides a pleasant chewing experience. In addition, cardu may have been used as thirst quenchers. We conclude that pastoral activity has significantly contributed to the development of a distinctive food heritage and cultural landscape.

ACS Style

Giulia Mattalia; Renata Sõukand; Paolo Corvo; Andrea Pieroni. Wild Food Thistle Gathering and Pastoralism: An Inextricable Link in the Biocultural Landscape of Barbagia, Central Sardinia (Italy). Sustainability 2020, 12, 5105 .

AMA Style

Giulia Mattalia, Renata Sõukand, Paolo Corvo, Andrea Pieroni. Wild Food Thistle Gathering and Pastoralism: An Inextricable Link in the Biocultural Landscape of Barbagia, Central Sardinia (Italy). Sustainability. 2020; 12 (12):5105.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Giulia Mattalia; Renata Sõukand; Paolo Corvo; Andrea Pieroni. 2020. "Wild Food Thistle Gathering and Pastoralism: An Inextricable Link in the Biocultural Landscape of Barbagia, Central Sardinia (Italy)." Sustainability 12, no. 12: 5105.

Journal article
Published: 04 May 2020 in Foods
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Biodiversity needs to be preserved to ensure food security. Border zones create high but vulnerable biocultural diversity. Through reviewing scattered historical data and documenting the current use of wild food plants among people currently living in historical Setomaa and Võromaa parishes, we aimed to identify cross-cultural differences and diachronic changes as well as the role borders have played on the local use of wild plants. The Seto have still preserved their distinctive features either by consciously opposing others or by maintaining more historical plant uses. People historically living in Setomaa and Võromaa parishes have already associated the eating of wild plants with famine food in the early 20th century, yet it was stressed more now by the Seto than by Estonians. Loss of Pechory as the center of attraction in the region when the border was closed in the early 1990s brought about a decline in the exchange of knowledge as well as commercial activities around wild food plants. National support for businesses in the area today and the popularity of a healthy lifestyle have introduced new wild food plant applications and are helping to preserve local plant-specific uses in the area.

ACS Style

Raivo Kalle; Renata Sõukand; Andrea Pieroni. Devil Is in the Details: Use of Wild Food Plants in Historical Võromaa and Setomaa, Present-Day Estonia. Foods 2020, 9, 570 .

AMA Style

Raivo Kalle, Renata Sõukand, Andrea Pieroni. Devil Is in the Details: Use of Wild Food Plants in Historical Võromaa and Setomaa, Present-Day Estonia. Foods. 2020; 9 (5):570.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Raivo Kalle; Renata Sõukand; Andrea Pieroni. 2020. "Devil Is in the Details: Use of Wild Food Plants in Historical Võromaa and Setomaa, Present-Day Estonia." Foods 9, no. 5: 570.

Article
Published: 13 March 2020 in Environment, Development and Sustainability
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Current debate highlights that sustainable food systems can be fostered by the cautious and germane use of natural resources. Gathering, cooking, and consuming wild food plants that are widely available in a given environment are traditional practices that in many parts of the world have historically been crucial for effecting the food security and food sovereignty of local communities. In the current study, we analyzed the traditional foraging patterns of Armenians, Pontic Greeks, Molokans, and Yazidis living in a mountainous area of central Armenia; via 64 semi-structured interviews, 66 wild food folk taxa were recorded and identified. While Armenians and Greeks gather a remarkable number of wild food plants (36 and 31, respectively) and share approximately half of them, Molokans and, more remarkable, Yazidis gather less wild food plants (24 and 17, respectively) and share only a few plants with Armenians. This may be due not only to the fact that the latter ethno-religious groups have followed endogamic marriage patterns for centuries, which may have limited the exchange of plant knowledge and practices with their Armenian neighbors, but also to the difficult adaptation to a new environment that Yazidis experienced after moving from Eastern Anatolia and the Nineveh Plains to the study area around a century ago. The traditional practice of gathering wild plants for food is, however, still vividly alive among locals in central Armenia and at least a part of this bio-cultural heritage could represent one of the future pillars of local sustainable food systems and platforms.

ACS Style

Andrea Pieroni; Roman Hovsepyan; Ajmal K. Manduzai; Renata Sõukand. Wild food plants traditionally gathered in central Armenia: archaic ingredients or future sustainable foods? Environment, Development and Sustainability 2020, 23, 2358 -2381.

AMA Style

Andrea Pieroni, Roman Hovsepyan, Ajmal K. Manduzai, Renata Sõukand. Wild food plants traditionally gathered in central Armenia: archaic ingredients or future sustainable foods? Environment, Development and Sustainability. 2020; 23 (2):2358-2381.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Andrea Pieroni; Roman Hovsepyan; Ajmal K. Manduzai; Renata Sõukand. 2020. "Wild food plants traditionally gathered in central Armenia: archaic ingredients or future sustainable foods?" Environment, Development and Sustainability 23, no. 2: 2358-2381.

Journal article
Published: 17 January 2020 in Heliyon
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Babushka informal markets selling several homemade gastronomic plant and animal-based products and culinary preparations, as well as wild and cultivated plants, and sometimes family butchered barnyard animals are extremely popular in Ukraine. In this field study that we conducted over a few years we inventoried the most relevant food plant products sold in these markets and we analysed how these markets represent remarkable food refugia for several local niche foods. In addition, we researched the historical and socio-economic reasons for the start, survival, and revival of this phenomenon, which had its origin during the Communist period. We furthermore evaluated similar recent trends in other Eastern European countries and especially those which had a very different post-Communist trajectory with the aim of addressing the possible factors affecting their survival and what could be done to preserve their existence. In particular, in a few of these countries (i.e. Azerbaijan) we observed how informal food markets represent experimental fields where gastronomic knowledge is not only "preserved", but also reinvented, possibly in response to the preferences and requests of a city's customers.

ACS Style

Renata Sõukand; Nataliya Stryamets; Michele Filippo Fontefrancesco; Andrea Pieroni. The importance of tolerating interstices: Babushka markets in Ukraine and Eastern Europe and their role in maintaining local food knowledge and diversity. Heliyon 2020, 6, e03222 .

AMA Style

Renata Sõukand, Nataliya Stryamets, Michele Filippo Fontefrancesco, Andrea Pieroni. The importance of tolerating interstices: Babushka markets in Ukraine and Eastern Europe and their role in maintaining local food knowledge and diversity. Heliyon. 2020; 6 (1):e03222.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Renata Sõukand; Nataliya Stryamets; Michele Filippo Fontefrancesco; Andrea Pieroni. 2020. "The importance of tolerating interstices: Babushka markets in Ukraine and Eastern Europe and their role in maintaining local food knowledge and diversity." Heliyon 6, no. 1: e03222.

Journal article
Published: 27 November 2019 in Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Background Iraqi Kurdistan is a special hotspot for bio-cultural diversity and for investigating patterns of traditional wild food plant foraging, considering that this area was the home of the first Neolithic communities and has been, over millennia, a crossroad of different civilizations and cultures. The aim of this ethnobotanical field study was to cross-culturally compare the wild food plants traditionally gathered by Kurdish Muslims and those gathered by the ancient Kurdish Kakai (Yarsan) religious group and to possibly better understand the human ecology behind these practices. Methods Twelve villages were visited and 123 study participants (55 Kakai and 68 Muslim Kurds) were interviewed on the specific topic of the wild food plants they currently gather and consume. Results The culinary use of 54 folk wild plant taxa (corresponding to 65 botanical taxa) and two folk wild mushroom taxa were documented. While Kakais and Muslims do share a majority of the quoted food plants and also their uses, among the plant ingredients exclusively and commonly quoted by Muslims non-weedy plants are slightly preponderant. Moreover, more than half of the overall recorded wild food plants are used raw as snacks, i.e. plant parts are consumed on the spot after their gathering and only sometimes do they enter into the domestic arena. Among them, it is worth mentioning the consumption of raw wild crocus corms, also still common in Turkish Kurdistan and that of wild tulip bulbs, which was documented to be popular until the beginning of the twentieth century in the Middle East. Comparison with other ethnobotanical field studies recently conducted among surrounding populations has shown that Kurds tend to gather and consume the largest number of non-weedy wild vegetables. Conclusion The collected data indicate robust traces of nomadic pastoralism in Kurdish traditional foraging. This finding confirms that studies on wild food plant gathering in the Fertile Crescent and Turco-Arabic-Iranic regions of the Middle East are crucial for understanding the possible evolution of wild food plant gathering through history within the post-Neolithic continuum between pastoralism and horticulturalism.

ACS Style

Andrea Pieroni; Hawre Zahir; Hawraz Ibrahim M. Amin; Renata Sõukand. Where tulips and crocuses are popular food snacks: Kurdish traditional foraging reveals traces of mobile pastoralism in Southern Iraqi Kurdistan. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 2019, 15, 1 -14.

AMA Style

Andrea Pieroni, Hawre Zahir, Hawraz Ibrahim M. Amin, Renata Sõukand. Where tulips and crocuses are popular food snacks: Kurdish traditional foraging reveals traces of mobile pastoralism in Southern Iraqi Kurdistan. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 2019; 15 (1):1-14.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Andrea Pieroni; Hawre Zahir; Hawraz Ibrahim M. Amin; Renata Sõukand. 2019. "Where tulips and crocuses are popular food snacks: Kurdish traditional foraging reveals traces of mobile pastoralism in Southern Iraqi Kurdistan." Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 15, no. 1: 1-14.

Journal article
Published: 04 October 2019 in Plant Biosystems - An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology
Reads 0
Downloads 0
ACS Style

Giulia Mattalia; Renata Sõukand; Paolo Corvo; Andrea Pieroni. Blended divergences: local food and medicinal plant uses among Arbëreshë, Occitans, and autochthonous Calabrians living in Calabria, Southern Italy. Plant Biosystems - An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology 2019, 154, 615 -626.

AMA Style

Giulia Mattalia, Renata Sõukand, Paolo Corvo, Andrea Pieroni. Blended divergences: local food and medicinal plant uses among Arbëreshë, Occitans, and autochthonous Calabrians living in Calabria, Southern Italy. Plant Biosystems - An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology. 2019; 154 (5):615-626.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Giulia Mattalia; Renata Sõukand; Paolo Corvo; Andrea Pieroni. 2019. "Blended divergences: local food and medicinal plant uses among Arbëreshë, Occitans, and autochthonous Calabrians living in Calabria, Southern Italy." Plant Biosystems - An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology 154, no. 5: 615-626.

Historical article
Published: 30 September 2019 in Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Currently various scientific and popular sources provide a wide spectrum of ethnopharmacological information on many plants, yet the sources of that information, as well as the information itself, are often not clear, potentially resulting in the erroneous use of plants among lay people or even in official medicine. Our field studies in seven countries on the Eastern edge of Europe have revealed an unusual increase in the medicinal use of Epilobium angustifolium L., especially in Estonia, where the majority of uses were specifically related to “men's problems”. to understand the recent and sudden increase in the interest in the use of E. angustifolium in Estonia; to evaluate the extent of documented traditional use of E. angustifolium among sources of knowledge considered traditional; to track different sources describing (or attributed as describing) the benefits of E. angustifolium; and to detect direct and indirect influences of the written sources on the currently documented local uses of E. angustifolium on the Eastern edge of Europe. In this study we used a variety of methods: semi-structured interviews with 599 people in 7 countries, historical data analysis and historical ethnopharmacological source analysis. We researched historical and archival sources, and academic and popular literature published on the medicinal use of E. angustifolium in the regions of our field sites as well as internationally, paying close attention to the literature that might have directly or indirectly contributed to the popularity of E. angustifolium at different times in history. Our results show that the sudden and recent popularity in the medical use of E. angustifolium in Estonia has been caused by local popular authors with academic medical backgrounds, relying simultaneously on “western” and Russian sources. While Russian sources have propagated (partially unpublished) results from the 1930s, “western” sources are scientific insights derived from the popularization of other Epilobium species by Austrian herbalist Maria Treben. The information Treben disseminated could have been originated from a previous peak in popularity of E. angustifolium in USA in the second half of the 19th century, caused in turn by misinterpretation of ancient herbals. The traditional uses of E. angustifolium were related to wounds and skin diseases, fever, pain (headache, sore throat, childbirth), and abdominal-related problems (constipation, stomach ache) and intestinal bleeding. Few more uses were based on the similarity principle. The main theme, however, is the fragmentation of use and its lack of consistency apart from wounds and skin diseases. Historical ethnobotanical investigations could help to avoid creating repeating waves of popularity of plants that have already been tried for certain diseases and later abandoned as not fully effective. There is, of course, a chance that E. angustifolium could also finally be proven to be clinically safe and cost-effective for treating benign prostatic hyperplasia, but this has not yet happened despite recent intensive research. Documented traditional use would suggest investigating the dermatological, intestinal anti-hemorrhagic and pain inhibiting properties of this plant, if any.

ACS Style

Renata Sõukand; Giulia Mattalia; Valeria Kolosova; Nataliya Stryamets; Julia Prakofjewa; Olga Belichenko; Natalia Kuznetsova; Sabrina Minuzzi; Liisi Keedus; Baiba Prūse; Andra Simanova; Aleksandra Ippolitova; Raivo Kalle. Inventing a herbal tradition: The complex roots of the current popularity of Epilobium angustifolium in Eastern Europe. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 2019, 247, 112254 .

AMA Style

Renata Sõukand, Giulia Mattalia, Valeria Kolosova, Nataliya Stryamets, Julia Prakofjewa, Olga Belichenko, Natalia Kuznetsova, Sabrina Minuzzi, Liisi Keedus, Baiba Prūse, Andra Simanova, Aleksandra Ippolitova, Raivo Kalle. Inventing a herbal tradition: The complex roots of the current popularity of Epilobium angustifolium in Eastern Europe. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 2019; 247 ():112254.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Renata Sõukand; Giulia Mattalia; Valeria Kolosova; Nataliya Stryamets; Julia Prakofjewa; Olga Belichenko; Natalia Kuznetsova; Sabrina Minuzzi; Liisi Keedus; Baiba Prūse; Andra Simanova; Aleksandra Ippolitova; Raivo Kalle. 2019. "Inventing a herbal tradition: The complex roots of the current popularity of Epilobium angustifolium in Eastern Europe." Journal of Ethnopharmacology 247, no. : 112254.

Article
Published: 02 September 2019 in Human Ecology
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Sacred Natural Sites (SNSs), found in all inhabited continents, are cultural landscapes of spiritual significance for local communities. As they are believed to influence Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), we documented the use of wild and semi-domesticated plants for food and medicine in four villages located at different distances from SNSs in Central Italy. Results may indicate that SNSs, which have been managed and inhabited for centuries by monastic communities, have had a restrictive impact on local TEK, as the communities located near SNSs reported fewer traditional uses for plants than those living further from the same SNSs. One possible explanation is that the Scholarly Knowledge (SK) held by the monastic communities of SNSs competed with the TEK of the surrounding villages and this resulted in a smaller body of plant-related folk knowledge, practices and beliefs retained by the people living in the vicinity of SNSs. Further studies should address the past and current mechanisms of competition and/or osmosis between TEK and SK in terms of both daily practices and beliefs/theoretical knowledge.

ACS Style

Giulia Mattalia; Renata Sõukand; Paolo Corvo; Andrea Pieroni. Scholarly vs. Traditional Knowledge: Effects of Sacred Natural Sites on Ethnobotanical Practices in Tuscany, Central Italy. Human Ecology 2019, 47, 653 -667.

AMA Style

Giulia Mattalia, Renata Sõukand, Paolo Corvo, Andrea Pieroni. Scholarly vs. Traditional Knowledge: Effects of Sacred Natural Sites on Ethnobotanical Practices in Tuscany, Central Italy. Human Ecology. 2019; 47 (5):653-667.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Giulia Mattalia; Renata Sõukand; Paolo Corvo; Andrea Pieroni. 2019. "Scholarly vs. Traditional Knowledge: Effects of Sacred Natural Sites on Ethnobotanical Practices in Tuscany, Central Italy." Human Ecology 47, no. 5: 653-667.

Original paper
Published: 21 August 2019 in Biodiversity and Conservation
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Diversity of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) created on the edges of culture is the key to the sustainability and resilience of humankind. We recorded wild food TEK among seven autochthonous linguistic communities living on both sides of the Greater Caucasus Range, documenting the use of 72 wild taxa as well as remarkable diversity of both taxa and uses among the communities. The most isolated communities form distinct biocultural refugia for wild food plants and their uses, but the sustainability of such communities is under threat due to depopulation, and their TEK has already entered into decline. While isolation may have been responsible for the preservation of food biocultural refugia, it may no longer be enough for the passive preservation of the food refugia in the study area in the future. More proactive steps have to be taken in order to ensure the sustainability of TEK of the study communities and beyond.

ACS Style

Renata Sõukand; Andrea Pieroni. Resilience in the mountains: biocultural refugia of wild food in the Greater Caucasus Range, Azerbaijan. Biodiversity and Conservation 2019, 28, 3529 -3545.

AMA Style

Renata Sõukand, Andrea Pieroni. Resilience in the mountains: biocultural refugia of wild food in the Greater Caucasus Range, Azerbaijan. Biodiversity and Conservation. 2019; 28 (13):3529-3545.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Renata Sõukand; Andrea Pieroni. 2019. "Resilience in the mountains: biocultural refugia of wild food in the Greater Caucasus Range, Azerbaijan." Biodiversity and Conservation 28, no. 13: 3529-3545.

Research article
Published: 08 July 2019 in Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Gathering and consuming wild food plants are traditional practices in many areas of the world and their role in fostering food security has been increasingly discussed in recent years. In this field study, we focused on traditional foraging among Azeris, Tats, Russian Molokans, and Udis in Central Azerbaijan. Via 78 semi-structured interviews, with an equal number of individuals from the four ethnic/religious communities, 73 wild food folk taxa were recorded. While Caucasian autochthonous Udis have a restricted use of wild food plants in comparison with the other groups, possibly due to the fact that they live in a plains area that is horticultural-driven and well-connected, the most divergent ethnobotany was exhibited by the Tats (10 folk taxa exclusively used by them) which may be related to both their cultural and geographical isolation and the fact that this community was endogamic until only a few decades ago. Whereas the Azeri plant cultural markers are mainly retained by refugees from Karabakh, Russian Molokans, who represent a distinct, conservative ethno-religious group, seem to have preserved a few ancient Slavic culinary uses of wild plants (Armoracia rusticana Gaertn., B.Mey. and Scherb., Crataegus spp., Rumex acetosella L., and especially Viburnum opulus). Tat cultural markers were represented by barberries (especially in their original lacto-fermented preparation) and Ornithogalum spp., while for Udis Smilax excelsa L. shoots were particularly salient, as were wild Allium, Chaerophyllum, Prangos, Smyrnium, and Tragopogon spp. among the Azeris. Overall, the practice of traditional foraging is alive in the Azeri Caucasus in the most remote mountainous areas and this heritage is the result of a complex co-evolution, in which both human ecological trajectories and cultural attachment to certain plant tastes have possibly shaped specific foraging patterns over centuries.

ACS Style

Andrea Pieroni; Renata Sõukand. Ethnic and religious affiliations affect traditional wild plant foraging in Central Azerbaijan. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 2019, 66, 1495 -1513.

AMA Style

Andrea Pieroni, Renata Sõukand. Ethnic and religious affiliations affect traditional wild plant foraging in Central Azerbaijan. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution. 2019; 66 (7):1495-1513.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Andrea Pieroni; Renata Sõukand. 2019. "Ethnic and religious affiliations affect traditional wild plant foraging in Central Azerbaijan." Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 66, no. 7: 1495-1513.