Overcoming Tribal Boundaries: The Biocultural Heritage of Foraging and Cooking Wild Vegetables among Four Pathan Groups in the Gadoon Valley, NW Pakistan

The foraging and consumption of wild food plants is a long-standing tradition in many parts of the world and their importance in promoting food security has become more widely debated in recent years. The current study aimed to document, analyze, and interpret the traditional knowledge of non-cultivated vegetables among four Pathan tribes (Alisher Khel, Hadarzai, Haji Khel, and Umarzai) living in the Gadoon Valley, Swabi District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, NW Pakistan, and to evaluate how these practices vary among the considered tribal communities. A total of 104 informants were interviewed via a semi-structured, open-ended questionnaire and group discussions. The field survey was conducted from October 2018 to November 2020. Information about local names, growth habit, used plant parts, food/cooking details, medicinal perceptions, availability season, and market prices were collected. The field survey recorded 51 non-cultivated vegetables belonging to 24 botanical families, for which the frequently used plant parts included young leaves, stems, and flowers. The greatest number of use reports was recorded for Colocasia and the highest cultural index value was recorded for Rumex dentatus; the dominant botanical families were Asteraceae and Fabaceae (six species each). Seven species were found to be sold at local and regional markets. Cross-cultural analysis among the four considered tribes showed that the largest number of species was reported by members of the Hadarzai and Umarzai tribes, although most of the quoted wild vegetables were homogenously gathered among all considered communities, with some more idiosyncratic plant uses among the Umarzai group, who have likely been less affected by the erosion of traditional knowledge or possibly have had less access to traded cultivated vegetables. The novelty of the data was assessed by comparing it with the previously published wild food ethnobotanical literature of Pakistan, which showed fifteen new wild vegetables not yet reported in the NW of the country. The recorded food biocultural heritage should be seriously considered in future local development projects aimed at fostering environmental sustainability and food security.

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A Comprehensive Appraisal of the Wild Food Plants and Food System of Tribal Cultures in the Hindu Kush Mountain Range; a Way Forward for Balancing Human Nutrition and Food Security

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13095258 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (9) ◽

pp. 5258

Author(s):

Abdullah Abdullah ◽

Shujaul Mulk Khan ◽

Andrea Pieroni ◽

Aminul Haq ◽

Zahoor Ul Haq ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Traditional Knowledge ◽

Food Systems ◽

Food System ◽

Cultural Practice ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Food ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Mountain Range ◽

Hindu Kush

The tribal belt of the Hindu Kush mountains is famous for its unique culture, ethnography, wild food plants, food systems, and traditional knowledge. People in this region gather wild plants and plant parts using them directly or in traditional cuisine, or sell them in local markets. However, there is a huge lack of documentation of the food system, particularly that related to wild food plants (WFP). In the current study, we focus on the uses and contributions of WFPs in the traditional tribal food system of the Hindu Kush valleys along the Pakistan–Afghanistan border. Ethnobotanical data were gathered through questionnaire surveys of 84 informants, including 69 men and 15 women, belonging to 21 different villages of the chosen area. In tribal societies men and women rarely mix and thus very few women took part in the surveys. We documented 63 WFP species belonging to 34 botanical families, of which 27 were used as vegetables, 24 as fruits, six in different kinds of chutneys (starters), and six as fresh food species. Fruits were the most used part (41%), followed by leaves (24%), aerial parts (24%), seeds (7%), stems (3%), and young inflorescences (1%). The reported uses of Carthamus oxyacantha, Pinus roxburghii seeds, and Marsilea quadrifolia leaves are novel for the gastronomy of Pakistan. The results reveal that WFPs provide a significant contribution to local food systems and play a role in addressing human nutritional needs, which are usually not met through farming practices. The tribal peoples of the Hindu Kush use WFPs for their nutritional value, but also as a cultural practice—an inseparable component of the tribal community’s lifestyle. This important traditional knowledge about the gathering and consumption of WFPs, however, is eroding at an alarming rate among younger generations due to the introduction of fast-food, modernization, and globalization. Therefore, appropriate strategies are imperative not only to safeguard traditional plants and food knowledge and practices, as well as the cultural heritage attached to them, but also to foster food security and thus public healthcare via local wild foods in the region.

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The Importance of Keeping Alive Sustainable Foraging Practices: Wild Vegetables and Herbs Gathered by Afghan Refugees Living in Mansehra District, Pakistan

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13031500 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 1500

Author(s):

Ajmal K. Manduzai ◽

Arshad M. Abbasi ◽

Shujaul M. Khan ◽

Abdullah Abdullah ◽

Julia Prakofjewa ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Life ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Plant ◽

Wild Food ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Afghan Refugees ◽

Wild Vegetables ◽

Biocultural Heritage ◽

Local Environmental Knowledge ◽

Study Participants

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.

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Contribution of the Wild Food Plants in the Food System of Tribal Belt of Pakistan; The Pak - Afghan Border Region

10.20944/preprints202009.0454.v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Shujaul Mulk Khan ◽

Abdullah Abdullah

Keyword(s):

Traditional Knowledge ◽

Fast Food ◽

Food System ◽

Cultural Practice ◽

Border Region ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Plants ◽

Wild Food ◽

Public Healthcare ◽

Wild Food Plants

The tribal belt of Pakistan-the Pak-Afghan border region is famous for its unique culture, ethnography and wild food plants and traditional knowledge. People of these regions gather wild plants for number of purposes including plants or plant parts for direct use, use it in the traditional cuisines and selling in local markets. However, there is huge lack of documentation of food system particularly the Wild Food Plants (WFPs). In current study we have focused on the uses and contributions of the WFPs in the tribal traditional food system. The ethnobotanical data were gathered through questionnaire surveys with Eighty-four informants 69 men and 15 women belonging to 21 different villages. We documented Sixty-three WFP species belonging to 34 botanical families, of which 27 were used as vegetables, 24 as fruits, 6 in different kinds of chutneys (starters) formation and six as fresh food species. Fruits were the mostly used part (40%) followed by leaves (24%), aerial parts (24%), seeds (7%), stem (3%), legume (2%) and young inflorescence (1%). Use of Carthamus oxycanthus & Pinus roxburghii seeds and Marsillea quadrifolia leaves were the novel reports for the gastronomy of Pakistan. The results elucidate that WFPs have a significant contribution in the Tribal Food Systems. Tribal people use WFPs not only due to their nutritional importance but also as a cultural practice - an inseparable component of the tribal communities. This important traditional Knowledge about the consumption of WFPs has been eroding with an alarming speed among the younger generations due to introduction of fast food chains, modernization, and globalization. Therefore, appropriates strategies are imperative not only to safeguard traditional knowledge but also the cultural heritage, food security and hence public healthcare via food supplement in the region.

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The hidden Mediterranean diet: wild vegetables traditionally gathered and consumed in the Gargano area, Apulia, SE Italy

Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae ◽

10.5586/asbp.2015.031 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 84 (3) ◽

pp. 327-338 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Nello Biscotti ◽

Andrea Pieroni

Keyword(s):

Mediterranean Diet ◽

Food System ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Food ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Economic Changes ◽

Traditional Environmental Knowledge ◽

Wild Vegetables ◽

The Mediterranean ◽

Culinary Uses

Despite the extensive bio-scientific literature concerning the Mediterranean diet, which emerged in the last three decades, systematic ethnography-centered investigations on a crucial portion of this food system, linked to the traditional consumption of non-cultivated vegetables, are still largely lacking in many areas of the Mediterranean Basin.In this research, an ethnobotanical field study focusing on wild vegetables traditionally gathered and consumed locally, was conducted in a few centers and villages located in the Gargano area, northern Apulia, SE Italy, by interviewing twenty-five elderly informants. The folk culinary uses of seventy-nine botanical taxa of wild vascular plants, belonging to nineteen families, were recorded, thus showing a remarkable resilience of traditional environmental knowledge (TEK) related to wild food plants. In particular, approximately one-fourth of the recorded wild vegetables are still very commonly gathered and consumed nowadays, while ten taxa have never been reported in previous ethnobotanical studies conducted in Southern Italy. These findings demonstrate the crucial cultural role played by folk cuisines in preserving TEK, despite significant socio-economic changes that have affected the study area during the past four decades.

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Wild Food Plant Gathering among Kalasha, Yidgha, Nuristani and Khowar Speakers in Chitral, NW Pakistan

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12219176 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (21) ◽

pp. 9176

Author(s):

Muhammad Abdul Aziz ◽

Zahid Ullah ◽

Andrea Pieroni

Keyword(s):

Minority Groups ◽

Interdisciplinary Studies ◽

Food Plant ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Food ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Cultural Resilience ◽

Wild Food Plant ◽

Biocultural Heritage ◽

Sisymbrium Irio

The documentation of local food resources among linguistic/cultural minorities is essential for fostering measures aimed at sustaining food biocultural heritage. Moreover, interdisciplinary studies on food cultural heritage represent a vital aspect of promoting environmental and social sustainability. The current study aimed to record the traditional foraging of wild food plants (WFPs) among three minority groups (Kalasha, Muslim Ismaili Yidgha, and Muslim Sunni Kamkata-vari speakers) as well as the dominant (Sunni Muslim) Kho/Chitrali people in the Kalasha and Lotkoh valleys, Chitral, NW Pakistan. A field survey recorded fifty-five locally gathered wild food plants and three mycological taxa. Most of the WFPs were used raw as snacks or as cooked vegetables, and Yidgha speakers reported the highest number of WFPs. Although the wild food plant uses of the four considered groups were quite similar, Yidgha speakers exclusively reported the use of Heracleum candicans, Matricaria chamomilla, Seriphidium brevifolium, and Sisymbrium irio. Similarly, Kalasha speakers reported the highest number of use reports, and along with Yidgha speakers they quoted a few WFPs that were frequently used only by them. The results of the study showed a remarkable degree of cultural adaptation of the minority groups to the dominant Kho/Chitrali culture, but also some signs of cultural resilience among those linguistic and religious minorities that were historically more marginalized (Kalasha and Yidgha speakers). The recorded food biocultural heritage should be seriously considered in future development programs aimed at fostering social cohesion and sustainability.

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Conservation of Wild Food Plants and Their Potential for Combatting Food Insecurity in Kenya as Exemplified by the Drylands of Kitui County

Plants ◽

10.3390/plants9081017 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (8) ◽

pp. 1017 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Fredrick Munyao Mutie ◽

Peninah Cheptoo Rono ◽

Vivian Kathambi ◽

Guang-Wan Hu ◽

Qing-Feng Wang

Keyword(s):

Life Forms ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Edible Plants ◽

Wild Plants ◽

Wild Food ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Edible Plants ◽

East African ◽

Plant Parts ◽

The Common

Wild food plants are important resources for people living in dry areas of Kenya. A botanical inventory of vascular plants of Kitui county was compiled from specimens collected during field investigations in Kitui county, at the East African (EA) herbarium and from literature reporting on plants of Kitui county. To obtain an inventory of wild edible plants found in Kitui county, literature reporting on wild edible plants of Kenya were searched and combined with the use reports obtained from field surveys in Kitui county. A total of 199 wild plants found in Kitui county have the potential of being utilized as foods in different ways. Plant species growing either as trees or shrubs (83 species) and herbs (36 species) are the dominant life forms while the best represented plant families are Leguminosae (25 species) and Malvaceae (17 species). Fruits (124 reports) and leaves (56 reports) are the common plant parts collected for food. Fruits (120 species) and vegetables (44 species) are the common wild food types in Kitui county. Further studies on species distribution are necessary to address conservation concerns that may threaten such plants.

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The first contribution to the ethnobotany of inland Dalmatia: medicinal and wild food plants of the Knin area, Croatia

Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae ◽

10.5586/asbp.3622 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 88 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Filip Varga ◽

Ivana Šolić ◽

Marija Jug Dujaković ◽

Łukasz Łuczaj ◽

Martina Grdiša

Keyword(s):

Hypericum Perforatum ◽

Local Community ◽

Native People ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Food ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Sambucus Nigra ◽

Ethnobotanical Survey ◽

Medicinal Uses ◽

Plant Parts

An ethnobotanical survey was carried out in the Knin area (northern Dalmatia, Croatia) with the aim of recording traditional plant use by the local (native) people and contributing to the knowledge of plant biodiversity in the investigated area. Ethnobotanical data were collected by interviewing 40 local people at 17 locations. Data on 123 plant taxa (on average 21 taxa per interview) and 122 unique medicinal and 18 food uses in the local community were recorded. Prevalent medicinal uses of the recorded taxa were the treatment of digestive, respiratory, cardiovascular disorders, and injuries. The most commonly used plant parts gathered were leaves (35%) and flowers (20%). The most commonly collected plants in the investigated area were: Urtica dioica, Thymus longicaulis, Sambucus nigra, and Hypericum perforatum.

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Wild food plants and wild edible fungi of Heihe valley (Qinling Mountains, Shaanxi, central China): herbophilia and indifference to fruits and mushrooms

Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae ◽

10.5586/asbp.2012.044 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 81 (4) ◽

pp. 405-413 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Yongxiang Kang ◽

Łukasz Łuczaj ◽

Sebastian Ye ◽

Shijiao Zhang ◽

Jin Kang

Keyword(s):

Chenopodium Album ◽

Central China ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Food ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Edible Fungi ◽

Wild Vegetables ◽

Wild Fruits ◽

Wild Food Plant ◽

Wild Edible Fungi

The aim of the study was to investigate knowledge and use of wild food plants and fungi in Han (i.e. Chinese) nationality villages in central China, including famine plants used in the respondents' childhood. A valley adjacent to the extremely species-rich temperate forest vegetation of the Taibai Nature Reserve was chosen. Eighty-two people from 5 villages took part in the study. Altogether, 159 wild food plant species and 13 fungi folk taxa were mentioned by informants. The mean number of freelisted wild foods was very high (24.8; median – 21.5). An average respondent listed many species of wild vegetables (mean – 17, me- dian – 14.5), a few wild fruits (mean – 5.9 and median – 6) and very few fungi (mean – 1.9, median – 1), which they had eaten. Over 50% of respondents mentioned gathering the young shoots or leaves of Celastrus orbiculatus, Staphylea bumalda and S. holocapra, Caryopteris divaricata, Helwingia japonica, Pteridium aquilinum, Pimpinella sp., Amaranthus spp., Matteucia struthiopteris, Allium spp., Cardamine macrophylla and Chenopodium album. Only one species of fruits (Schisandra sphenanthera) and none of the mushrooms were mentioned by over half of the respondents. Although very diverse, it can be noted that the use of wild vegetables has decreased compared to the second half of the 20th century, as informants listed several plants which they had stopped using (e.g. Abelia engleriana) due to the availability of cultivated vegetables and other foodstuffs. On the other hand, the collection of the most well-known wild vegetables is maintained by selling them to tourists visiting agritourist farms, and restaurants.

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Nutrient and Mineral Compositions of Wild Leafy Vegetables of the Karen and Lawa Communities in Thailand

Foods ◽

10.3390/foods9121748 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (12) ◽

pp. 1748

Author(s):

Kittiyut Punchay ◽

Angkhana Inta ◽

Pimonrat Tiansawat ◽

Henrik Balslev ◽

Prasit Wangpakapattanawong

Keyword(s):

Indigenous People ◽

Leafy Vegetables ◽

Food Plants ◽

Wild Plant ◽

Wild Food ◽

Wild Food Plants ◽

Potential Contribution ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Wild Vegetables ◽

In The Wild

Wild food plants are commonly used in the traditional diets of indigenous people in many parts of the world, including northern Thailand. The potential contribution of wild food plants to the nutrition of the Karen and Lawa communities remains poorly understood. Wild food plants, with a focus on leafy vegetables, were ranked by the Cultural Food Significance Index (CFSI) based on semi-structured interviews. Twelve wild plant species were highly mentioned and widely consumed. The importance of the wild vegetables was mainly related to taste, availability, and multifunctionality of the species. Their contents of proximate and minerals (P, K, Na, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu) were analyzed using standard methods. The proximate contents were comparable to most domesticated vegetables. The contents of Mg (104 mg/100 g FW), Fe (11 mg/100 g FW), and Zn (19 mg/100 g FW) in the wild leafy vegetables were high enough to cover the daily recommended dietary allowances of adults (19–50 years), whereas a few species showed Mn contents higher than the tolerable upper intake level (>11 mg/100 g edible part). The wild leafy vegetables, therefore, are good sources of minerals and we recommend their continued usage by indigenous people. Further research on these wild leafy vegetables’ contents of antioxidants, vitamins, heavy metals, anti-nutrient factors, and food safety is recommended.

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