In the western Himalayas of Kashmir, mountain communities are eating their way to preserving traditional knowledge. Local food advocates are trying to get more of the rich array of wild edible plant species, traditionally cultivated by communities from forests, like gucchi (Morchella esculenta), onto peoples’ plates. A new study published in Forest Policy and Economics says the continued cultivation of these species opens the door to enhancing food security, building resiliency to climate change — and helps people not forget about them. In the last few decades, development projects and climate change hit hard the availability of wild food species and their cultivation, contributing to a loss of knowledge. To reverse this trend, community activists say everyone must continue foraging for them, growing them — and eating them. The authors documented 99 wild edible plant species and 9 fungi species from 38 families used in the hearty meals and preparation of four ethnic groups; the Pahari, Gujjar, Kashmiri and Bakarwal. Among them, Pahari people used the highest number of wild plant species followed by Gujjar, Kashmiri and Bakarwal. The use of tender leaves for food and medicinal purposes was the most frequent overall, while the tubers were the least used. While there were similarities and differences in food species and dietary practices between the groups, intergenerational traditional knowledge gap between elders and the young was the major driving force for traditional knowledge loss among these communities. “The documentation which is first of its kind done from the perspective of food…This article was originally published on Mongabay
The post Traditional foods have the potential to help Kashmir communities adapt to climate change: study first appeared on EnviroLink Network.