Europe

Question 1

The Science of Ethnobotany

Answer 1

Ethnobotany (from ethnology, study of culture, and botany, study of plants) is the scientific study of the relationships that exist between peoples and plants.
Ethnobotany is the science of survival.

Question 2

Ethnobotany is Multidisciplinary

Answer 2

• Medicine
• Conservation
• Food security

Question 3

Methods: Ethnobotanical Research

Answer 3

• Layers of Consent:
▫ Prior informed consent
▫ Access and benefit sharing
▫ Plant permits 
• Data Collection:
▫ Semi-structured interviews
▫ Focus groups
▫ Participant-observation 
• Biological Sampling:
▫ Voucher collection
▫ Bulk specimen collection

Question 4

Study Aims

Answer 4

• Compare the ethnobotanical knowledge of two culturally and linguistically distinct groups that share the same ecological landscape, environmental resources, religion and challenging economic conditions.
• Apply a quantitative ethnobotanical approach to examine how culture shapes knowledge and practice concerning wild flora for household subsistence and health practices.

Question 5

Plants found

Answer 5

Sambucus nigra (elderberry), Plantago spp., Plantaginaceae, Lulë balsami,

Question 6

Food Security

Answer 6

exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.’’

Question 7

Food sovereignty

Answer 7

is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.

Question 8

Fermented foods

Answer 8

• Fermented dairy and vegetable products are common staples in the household diet
• 15differentspecieswerecitedby informants as being subjected to processing via fermentation prior to consumption as medicinal food or folk- functional foods
• Lacticacidfermentationwasthemost common, followed by acetic acid and alcoholic fermentation
• Specific taxa are used as starter culture ingredients to ferment dairy products

Question 9

zymology

Answer 9

is relevant to food production that incorporates specific, known (allochthonous) starter culture organisms.

Question 10

ethnozymology

Answer 10

might best describe the science of fermentation in traditional diets, referring to the integration of TEK in fermentation by using the native (autochthonous) microbiota found on the plant ingredients and from other natural sources.

Question 11

Advantages of Fermentation

Answer 11

1. Diminishes undesirable elements of the raw product (i.e., toxicity);
2. Improves food digestibility and nutrient availability;
3. Enriches the food with vitamins and amino acids;
4. Reduces cooking time;
5. Salvages food waste; and
6. Improves shelf-life and decreases spoilage

Question 12

Food-Medicine Continuum

Answer 12

Scheme of how wild edible plants are perceived and applied in the traditional Mediterranean diet.
A) Plants are used in a multifunctional way, both for food and medicine, but with no link between the two modes of use; B) Plants are consumed because they are thought to be “healthy” and promote resilience, but without any unique specification of for their health-benefitting action; C) Plants are consumed in a “food” context with the aim of obtaining a specific medicinal action or relief from specific medical symptoms.

Question 13

Methods of italy study

Answer 13

PIC of community governance and individuals
• 42 informants
▫ age ranged from 28-90, with a median age of 64 and gender distribution of 59.5% male and 40.5% female
• Free-listing and semi-structured interviews complemented with a booklet composed of photos of 28 fungi and 93 plants
• Data analysis based on informant consensus factor, free-listing percent measure, fidelity levels, and use-value citation index

Question 14

Results of italy study

Answer 14

• Galt and Galt (1978) documented 107 specific uses of local botanical taxa
• Of these, 45 were not quoted by any informants in our 2014 survey, representing a loss of 42% of the uses documented 45 years ago
• An additional 235 specific uses of local flora and fungi were recorded in the present work, which were not included in the original study.
• A total of 95 plant taxa and 17 fungal taxa, representing 44 and 9 plant and fungal families, respectively, were cited by the study participants.
• Data on 2,124 use citations were collected, representing a total of 297 distinct sets of communal knowledge regarding specific taxa