About

Welcome! Introduction to Sites of Forage

Welcome to Sites of Forage! An academic food blog dedicated to investigating how localized settings affect the production and dissemination of wild, foraged food knowledge. In addition to investigating ethnobotanical studies on foraging and discussing the dynamics of fluctuating wild food knowledge, this blog serves as a platform to perform this knowledge in real-life foraging examples and cooking tutorials – showcasing wild food knowledge in situ from the field (literally) to the kitchen. But before delving into individual topics, I would like to explain in this introductory post how this blog came about as well as the details of its structure and what it aims to achieve.

Heidelberg, Germany

I am a student of the MA Transcultural Studies program at Ruprecht Karls Universität in Heidelberg, Germany. Currently, I am enrolled in a seminar titled, “Sites of Knowledge in Asia and Europe” in which we scrutinize the argument that “all knowledge is local”. Many scholars have laid the foundations of this argument. Adi Ophir and Steven Shapin challenge the trend in scientific analyses which claims that knowledge derives its authority and worth “by virtue of the disconnectedness of [its] production from practical affairs or from the customs, conventions, and interests of particular cultural contexts”[1].This view testifies to the idea that knowledge – valued for its universal truths – is delegitimized when restricted to certain contexts. In other words, it experiences “denigration by contextualization”[2].

However, Ophir and Shapin reject the idea that “the situatedness of knowledge counts as criticism”, instead focusing on questions like the following: “What if [knowledge] possesses its shape, meaning, reference, and domain of application by virtue of the physical, social, and cultural circumstances in which it is made, and in which it is used?” [3]. Such an act of situating knowledge provides a more rigorous understanding of its production and dissemination and in fact gives it a higher value than something that is problematically applied as a body of universal truths.

Begging these questions that aim to contextualize knowledge attests to the so-called “spatial turn” that Diarmid A. Finnegan reviews by outlining some of the reasons behind its recently found traction in scholarship. He reveals that this spatial turn is characterized by the suggestion that knowledge “depends on the manufacture and management of different spaces – real or imagined – to accomplish its objectives and establish its credentials”[4]. From this background, the argument that “all knowledge is local” comes to light. The seminar takes this argument to inspect specific sites of knowledge – such as botanical gardens, wildlife preserves, bookshops, and bazaars – in order to examine to what extent places can shape the complex systems of producing and circulating knowledge.

Since the seminar is coming to an end, I am tasked with carrying out a final project relating to the subject matter of the course as well as to exemplify what I have learned throughout the semester. In order to do so, I have opted to create this blog instead of writing a traditional term paper. However, the motivation behind this decision as well as the choice of wild, foraged food as a subject deserves an explanation.

Hyalite Canyon, Bozeman, Montana, USA

Originally, I am from Bozeman, Montana, USA – a Rocky Mountain state whose surface area is slightly larger than that of Germany, yet with barely one million residents; which is to say a lot of picturesque wild spaces and not a lot of people. Living in such a place, one cultivates very easily an appreciation of nature and a love to be outside in the mountains. But aside from the outdoors, food and cooking have always been passions of mine and important creative outlets. Therefore, going into the mountains and foraging for wild ingredients is the perfect medium between my love of the outdoors and my love of food. It is something that reminds me of home; but it is also something that I continue to practice and learn about here in Heidelberg.

Yet although my personal knowledge of wild food has become richer over the years by learning from others, researching on the internet, and learning-by-doing in the field as well as in the kitchen, I had only ever considered foraging a fun activity to enjoy in my free time. Certainly, I figured that people – at least who I have ever encountered – rather purchase the vast majority of their food than search for it in nature and therefore most people must have a limited knowledge of wild food; but that is the most thought I had ever given to foraging or wild food knowledge. However, throughout this seminar of analyzing diverse sites of knowledge I have come to look at wild food knowledge more seriously and came upon my research question for the final project: How do localized settings affect the production and dissemination of wild, foraged food knowledge?

As for the decision to present this project as a food blog, there are two main reasons; three if you count the fact that, when presented the option, of course I would rather do a project where I get to cook and be outside rather than sit in a library and stare at a computer screen. Okay fine, so three reasons.

The second reason, then, is that a food blog makes these discussions and information more accessible and appealing to a broader audience. Rather than writing a 20 page research paper that my professor will read, grade, and return to me with feedback – at which point it will carry out the rest of its life stowed away in the bowels of my computer’s hard drive – a blog is a public platform where I, professors, classmates, friends, family, and strangers interested in the subject can all view, learn, and enjoy at our leisure. In addition, with the inclusion of descriptions of my own foraging examples and recipes with foraged ingredients, this blog will hopefully cater to a broader range of interests in addition to the academic topics discussed. Whether you are my professor who wants to make sure I stay on track and actually relate this blog to the subject of the course or a total stranger who wants to Pinterest how to make Waldmeister ice pops and in the process learns something about the sexual division of foraging labor in certain societies, this blog is for you!

Waldmeister (Galium odoratum)

As for the final reason why I opted to create this blog, the interactive qualities of commenting and sharing that are inherent in blogging will serve to perform this knowledge at a meta-level. Discussing the production and dissemination of wild, foraged food knowledge via a research paper certainly has its own merits; but to be able to circulate this knowledge with the help of a blog means to actively participate in the circulation of this knowledge being discussed.

With this inspiration behind the blog, I would now like to briefly outline the details of how Sites of Forage’s posts will be presented.

Similar to certain examples throughout the seminar where we would focus on a field of knowledge and how different spatial aspects informed its production and dissemination (for example, how different spatial configurations and power dynamics affected psychological knowledge and practices leading up to Freud’s invention of psychoanalysis and its very specific spatial setting[5]), Sites of Forage will focus on the specific knowledge of wild, foraged food and investigate how aspects of localized settings affect this knowledge through the analyses of various sites. Most of these analyses come in the form of ethnobotanical surveys, but other academic articles and certain editorials are used as well.

As for the blog posts themselves, each post will concentrate on how one aspect of  localized settings affects the knowledge of wild, foraged food. For example, how might the economic situation of a certain locale incentivize or exploit communities’ wild food knowledge? A previous example was already mentioned about the sexual division of labor with regards to foraging practices in many communities; how might this consolidate knowledge for some and decrease it for others? A post on economics, a post on the sexes, and many more posts aiming to answer similar questions will comprise Sites of Forage.

In addition to these academic discussions, each post will incorporate a recipe featuring a foraged ingredient into the main topic of the post. Information about the recipe with descriptions of foraging for the ingredient, details about the ingredient itself as well as the dish will all contribute to the content of the post and present real-life, wild, foraged food knowledge to the readership.

As for the frequency of posts, Sites of Forage will have a new upload at least once a week. Be on the lookout for more in case I am exceptionally productive. That being said, don’t hold your breath. But you never know; it could happen.

With this introductory post, I hope that I have effectively laid out the purpose and content of Sites of Forage and instilled some interest in knowledge about wild, foraged food. As stated before, there’s something in this blog everyone. So, I encourage you to stay tuned to learn about the situatedness of wild, foraged food knowledge as well as the food itself, how to forage for your groceries, and some delicious recipes with new, exciting, and wild ingredients.

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[1] Adi Ophir and Steven Shapin, "The Place of Knowledge: A Methodological Survey," Science in Context 4  (1991).

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4]Diarmid A. Finnegan, "The Spatial Turn: Geographical Approaches in the History of Science," Journal of the History of Biology 41, no. 2 (2008).

[5] Andreas Mayer, "Lost Objects: From the Laboratories of Hypnosis to the Psychoanalytic Setting," Science in Context 19, no. 01 (2006).