 |
| Dutch Baby with Wild Blackberries and Greek Yogurt |
Introduction:
Age
ain’t nothing but a number – a phrase we all love to mumble to ourselves with
each passing birthday or sing aloud when listening to our 90’s R&B playlist.
Yet, how does this phrase hold up when considering knowledge systems of wild,
foraged food (WFF)? In this post, we will be investigating how age as a social
factor can affect the dynamics of WFF knowledge in a localized setting. Upon
analyzing and discussing multiple ethnobotanical case studies, the importance
of age manifests itself in the following ways: a trend that WFF knowledge is
largely restricted to older generations, edible flowers being excluded from WFF
knowledge, and the vital role of generational inheritance of WFF knowledge. It
becomes clear that age indeed plays a significant role in the social fabric of
local contexts when considering WFF knowledge, and – dare I say – it is indeed
much more than just a number.
1: Restriction
of WFF knowledge to older generations
While
reading the textual materials for Sites of Forage, I came across an
overwhelming trend that WFF knowledge is largely restricted to older
generations. Nearly every ethnobotanical survey attests that they acquired the
majority of their data from elderly members of the community that they study.
For
example, a study conducted in several villages located in the northwest of the
Iberian Peninsula explain that mostly “elderly, long-time residents” were
interviewed due to their sound knowledge of WFF and their uses and that “many
of the reported uses exist only in the collective memory of the elderly”[1].
Numerous other studies also share that they obtained most of their information
on WFF from older members in the community[2].
One
possible reason behind this restriction of WFF to older generations also deals
with age as a significant factor. An ethnobotanical survey in Palestine
attributes a decline in wild food gathering – and thus a decline in knowledge
about these foods – to “negative connections” by middle-aged members of these communities who “perceive
the consumption of wild edible plants in a negative way as a symbol of poverty
of the past”[3].
Similar sentiments were shared by middle-aged informants in a village in Yunnan
province of China[4].
The same study in the Iberian Peninsula also attests to many people regarding
WFF as “famine food” and consider it to be “old fashioned”; although this study
in particular does not explicitly attribute these sentiments to the middle-aged
generation, one can deduce that this is most likely the case since it explains
the elderly’s positive perception of WFF by reliving the nostalgic “flavours of
their childhood” by continuing to forage[5].
However,
there also exists an intriguing exception to this trend that WFF is restricted
to older generations in which age plays a markedly different role in WFF
knowledge. A study in Nepal noted that although most WFF knowledge was confined
to older women, many of these local WFF specialists would defer to younger
members of the community – mostly boys – when it came to specific knowledge
about wild fruits[6].
The reason behind this discrepancy is because younger people in these
communities are tasked with being herdsmen and as such spend entire days in the
forest where fruit is commonly found and eaten as a snack[7]. Therefore,
while the majority of informants in their study were older women, these
scholars obtained a significant amount of knowledge on wild fruits – one of the
staple foods in their diet – from young boys.
An
exception like this testifies to the situatedness of WFF knowledge. Although
the vast majority of sites will attest to the trend that WFF knowledge is
restricted to older generations, scrutinizing the localized setting in Nepal
reveals that age as a social factor affects WFF knowledge in a remarkable way.
Instead of the older generation having a total monopoly of this knowledge, the
youth are specialists in their own right and act as important holders of WFF
knowledge to whom the more seasoned informants would defer. The scholars of
this study even conclude that fellow ethnobotanists should take care to
consider young people’s potential contribution to WFF knowledge, even though it
may appear more useful to recruit informants exclusively or mostly from older
generations[8].
With
the acknowledgement of this exception, the overwhelming trend that WFF
knowledge is restricted to older generations reveals how age is an important
social factor in the knowledge systems at play. Since WFF knowledge is largely
generational, the elderly serve as gatekeepers of this knowledge. This role
highlights their importance as valuable community members in foraging
societies. Not only are they sources of knowledge within their own communities,
but scholars of ethnobotany depend on these older generations to obtain data
for their surveys. As will be explained more in depth later in this post, these
ethnobotanical surveys are often dedicated to preserving WFF knowledge so that
it does not disappear completely with the passing of the elderly. Therefore,
these older generations are a crucial component for the survival of WWF
knowledge; and in this way, age is a significant factor in the localized social
contexts that affect the knowledge of WWF.
 |
| Bärlauch (Allium ursinum) flowers are an example of edible wild flowers. They have a delicate, mild onion flavor. |
2: Exclusion of
flowers from locally verified knowledge and ethnobotanical research
However,
WFF knowledge being restricted to older generations is not the only way age
plays a role in its production and dissemination. Several of the surveys point
to an epistemic lack of edible flowers as WFF in ethnobotanical surveys[9].
But, what does this have to do with age?
Although
many communities – especially in Europe – report instances of snacking on
flowers for their sweet nectar, such a practice is usually a past-time of
children[10].
Flowers thus have the reputation of being “children’s food” and are often
overlooked by informants and researchers[11].
Surveys in Sardinia and Dagestan both briefly mention eating flowers as a
phenomenon specific to children – although also report cases of adults occasionally
taking part as well – yet in both cases, this case of WFF only receives a brief
mention[12],[13].
The Dagestan survey even admits that they could not report many instances of
eating flowers because their “main focus was on adults”[14] –
not surprising, considering again that the older generations usually hold the
vast majority of WFF knowledge.
This
is a prime example of the relativity of knowledge; essentially that all
knowledge exists not by virtue of absolute standards but rather through
processes of establishing local credibility[15].
In our case, although snacking on flowers is indeed an example of foraging for
wild food, its rejection as a frivolous practice reserved for children results
in the practice’s exclusion from being locally verified knowledge. Since
this “childish” practice is often in the community not considered true WFF
knowledge, it is passed over by researchers collecting data to construct this
knowledge in their surveys. Therefore, not only is flower-eating unverified knowledge in the local context,
but a distinct lack of information on edible flowers as WFF becomes apparent in
ethnobotanical studies as a whole; and the examples in the Iberian Peninsula,
Sardinia, and Dagestan testify to this.
Unlike
in the older generations, where WFF knowledge is abundant and whose members therefore
serve as authorities on this verified local knowledge, age affects the
knowledge systems in a very different way when analyzing children’s common practice
of snacking on wild flowers. The belief the flower-eating is childish – brought
about by an age disparity – result in edible flowers’ exclusion from what is
taken seriously as locally verified knowledge. Consequently, flowers become
markedly excluded from ethnobotanical studies at large.
Yet
although the examples at our disposal testify to this trend in ethnobotany to
exclude instances of children eating flowers – doubly reinforced by their focus
on older generations, being the most abundant source of WFF knowledge – the
Iberian study claims the importance of edible flowers and express regret that
they are often neglected in research[16].
This echoes the previously discussed survey taken in Nepal which concluded
that, although older generations usually hold the vast majority of WFF
knowledge, excluding younger generations as informants could be detrimental in
reporting WFF knowledge since younger people may specialize in certain – often
important – species that otherwise would remain undocumented[17].
With
these two examples of analyzing the situatedness of WFF knowledge in localized
settings, we can conclude that researchers should – if truly wanting to obtain
the most accurate picture of foraging practices and WFF usages – not focus too
intensely on older generations but also look to younger generations for
specialized foraging practices. Albeit certain foods may be disregarded as
“childish” in their local contexts, neglecting these foods is potentially
neglecting an entire body of specialized knowledge that may be of value in
their own research.
3: Vital role
of generational inheritance of WFF knowledge.
In
addition to older generations serving as authorities on WFF knowledge and
edible flowers being excluded from locally verified knowledge, this last topic
about age affecting WFF knowledge plays a crucial role in the longevity and
ultimately the survival of this knowledge – generational inheritance of WFF
knowledge.
In
order to analyze this aspect of how WFF knowledge is circulated, it is
important to understand the intricacies of how this knowledge can be
transmitted. Alberto Acerbi and Domenico Parisi outline the following three
ways of “cultural transmission between and within generations”: vertical,
oblique, and horizontal transmission[18].
With respect to WFF knowledge, vertical transmission occurs when knowledge of
WFF is passed down from parents to offspring; oblique transmission, from
individuals of one generation to unrelated individuals of a younger generation;
and finally horizontal transmission is the sharing of knowledge between individuals
of the same generation[19].
While all three forms of transmission are practiced in the dissemination of WFF
knowledge, Acerbi and Parisi note that vertical transmission takes on an
especially important role in smaller-scale, more traditional societies[20].
As the research sites in our examples exhibit – some even explicitly mention[21] –
these smaller, more rural societies where foraging traditions are still upheld
to a relatively high degree depend on intergenerational transmission, both
vertical and oblique.
For
example, the study in Dagestan attests that “it is mostly girls who are
socialized to traditional women’s roles (cooking […])” and therefore “learn
about wild leafy-vegetables used in the kitchen from older women in the family”[22]. Although
this study also discusses the village’s central square and kitchens as sites of
horizontal transmission – all of which and more will be discussed in depth in a
later post on social sites of WFF knowledge exchange – the researchers point
out that “most local’s knowledge about wild leafy vegetables comes from their
older kin”[23].
This example testifies to the important role that age plays as social factor to
the dissemination of WFF knowledge, since knowledge transmission between older
and younger generations plays such a vital role in more rural societies where
foraging traditions are still upheld.
However,
in this importance of generational transmission of knowledge, we see a direct
link to this knowledge being restricted to older generations and a threat to
the longevity of this WFF knowledge. One of the reasons why WFF knowledge tends
to be exclusive to older generations is because young people often migrate away
from their rural homes to cities to pursue education and careers in a more
urban environment[24]. According
to informants in the Yunnan study, “such migration severely disrupted the
transfer of local wild edibles knowledge between generations and led to the
loss of [WFF knowledge]”[25].
Since WFF knowledge depends on intergenerational transmission, the displacement
of younger generations away from their rural homes and kin reinforces the trend
that WFF knowledge is largely restricted to older generations. As a result, the
passing away of these older generations may have detrimental consequences to
the large body of WFF knowledge that they almost exclusively hold.
With
these examples, we see this final way in which age affects the dissemination of
WFF knowledge. As is evident in the ethnobotanical surveys at our disposal,
these small-scale societies in rural locations who still uphold traditional
foraging practices largely depend on vertical and oblique transmission of WFF
knowledge from older to younger generations. In this way, age becomes a crucial
social factor in these localized settings for the flows of knowledge among the
communities’ members.
Yet,
the tendency for younger people to move away from their homes and kin
reinforces the aforementioned trend of this knowledge’s restriction to older
generations. With few to no younger members, a disruption in the transfer of
WFF knowledge occurs which may prove to threaten the longevity of this
knowledge. Many, if not most, of the ethnobotanical surveys analyzed for Sites
of Forage even include a passage from the researchers recognizing the eroding
state of WFF knowledge and state that a main motivation to carry out the
research is to record WFF knowledge from these locales before it disappears
entirely[26].
Thus, age is not merely just a factor that affects WFF knowledge at the local
level, but influences a push in the entire field of ethnobotany to research and
record this knowledge before it may disappear entirely.
Conclusion:
From
these discussions, we see that age is a factor that plays a very significant
role in the social settings of foraging locales. There is a wide tendency for
older generations to hold the vast majority of WFF knowledge. Yet although this
may entice researchers to focus exclusively on these more elderly sources, this
may lead to an oversight which testifies to the exclusion of certain species.
This is the case with edible wild flowers, which are often neglected in
ethnobotanical studies since their older, primary informants disregard them as
“children’s food” and therefore are not included in the locally verified body
of WFF knowledge. Finally, age manifests itself as an import factor of WFF
knowledge dynamics in the generational transmission of WFF knowledge from older
generations to younger generations. The longevity of this knowledge in these
rural communities depends on these vertical and oblique transfers; yet the
migration of young people away from their homes and kin creates a disruption in
the transfer of WFF knowledge and threatens its longevity.
Yet
in these examples, we see how age does not only affect WFF knowledge at the
local level, but also at a much broader level in the field of ethnobotany. The
exclusivity of WFF knowledge to older generations produces a trend in
ethnobotany to focus on older informants, which leads to an epistemic lack of
foods typically consumed by younger generations. Finally, and perhaps most
importantly, the eroding knowledge of WFF largely resulting in the passing away
of older generations creates an urgency that is currently pushing the entire
field of ethnobotany to record local WFF knowledge before it’s too late. This
theme will reoccur in many posts to come, and in a way has served as a
motivation to create Sites of Forage in the first place.
But
for now, we can definitively say that – much to the 90’s R&B star, Aaliyah’s,
dismay – age is indeed much more than just a number; at least when it comes to
WFF knowledge.
______________________________________________________________________________
Sites of Forage
Recipe:
Dutch Baby with
Wild Blackberries and Greek Yogurt
For
the first recipe of Sites of Forage, I decided to choose a dish that features a
wild ingredient that everyone is a little more familiar with – blackberries.
Don’t worry, there will be plenty more obscure ingredients to come that all of
you hipsters will have a blast searching for in your raggedy flannel shirts and
vintage glasses (no judgement, that’s pretty much a description of myself).
In
Heidelberg, wild blackberries can be found everywhere starting from about mid-July,
and you don’t even need to go to great lengths to collect them. Some friends
and I got the ones for this recipe on the side of a road next to the
Bergfriedhof and in the woods just east of Weststadt; but I’ve even seen them
growing in abundance next to the platforms of the Weststadt/Südstadt S-Bahnhof
and along the Neckar west of the bridge connecting Neunheimer Feld and
Bergheim.
However,
my advice to you is wear a long pair of pants that you don’t care much about
and gardening gloves that don’t limit your dexterity too much. Blackberry
bushes are thorny as hell, and you will thank me later for taking these
precautions before foraging for berries. In addition to wearing the proper
equipment, make sure that whatever vessel you plan on collecting the berries in
is something hard and preferably dishwasher friendly. A Tupperware container,
an old tea or coffee tin, or one of those Nalgene bottles works great. If you
use any sort of bag, the berries will get mushed; and if you use any sort of
cloth bag, the berries will get mushed and stain your bag forever.
 |
| Blackberries (Rubus sectio Rubus) |
As
for the recipe, a quick Google search will show you that there’s a fair amount
of ambiguity surrounding the name “Dutch Baby”. But regardless of the origins
of its silly name, a Dutch Baby is an incredibly simple, tasty, and even
theatrical dish. Essentially, a batter of equal parts by volume of eggs, milk,
and flour with a bit of sugar and salt are poured into a pan of hot oil and
immediately transferred into a preheated oven to cook until golden brown. The
result is a puffy pancake-cloud that rises well above the sides of the pan. You
know what? I’m going to call this dish from now on a puffy pancake-cloud.
To
serve alongside you PPC, I think it’s best to keep the berries as simple as
possible. When they are in season and ripe, they are so sweet and tart that
it’s best to appreciate them in some raw form. If you wanted to, you could cook
them until they break down and become nice and jammy. But personally, I think
that you’ve already done enough to go out and forage for them; it suffices
plenty just to mash the raw berries, a bit (but not too much) sugar, and a
touch of lemon zest with a fork. This way you get a nice, saucy consistency but
still can appreciate the fresh flavor of the berries. Add alongside a dollop of
creamy Greek yogurt, and you have a quick, delicious, yet impressive and out of
the ordinary dish to serve as a dessert or even an indulgent breakfast on the
weekend.
If
you’re new to foraging – or cooking, for that matter – then this puffy pancake-cloud
with wild blackberries and Greek yogurt is a great place to start. Even if you
are a seasoned veteran in either of those things, it is still a great recipe to
have your repertoire and can accommodate whatever wild berries you would
normally eat raw. Happy foraging and happy cooking!
Ingredients:
For the PPC:
4 eggs, at room
temperature (if using eggs from the fridge, place them in a bowl with warm
water for about 20-30 minutes before
starting the recipe)
200 ml milk
1 Tbsp sugar or
vanilla sugar
1 pinch salt
200 ml flour
2 – 3 Tbsp
light cooking oil (i.e. vegetable, rapeseed, corn) or clarified butter (Butterschmalz,
for those of us living in Germany)
For the topping:
~2 coffee mugs
of wild blackberries
1 – 2 Tbsp
sugar
1 small pinch
salt
Zest of half a
lemon
4 generous Tbsp
Greek yogurt
Method:
Preheat
the oven to 220°C and an oven-proof pan over high heat. Whisk the eggs, milk,
sugar and salt together in a mixing bowl. Add the flour in two stages and whisk
to combine, making sure there are no lumps. If there are a few lumps, simply
strain the batter through a fine sieve into another receptacle to remove lumps.
At this point, the pan should be fully preheated and quite hot. Add the oil or
clarified butter; there should be a thin layer of oil coating the entire bottom
of the pan. Then add the batter carefully all in one go, avoiding splattering
oil all over the kitchen and yourself. Immediately transfer the pan into the
middle of the hot oven. Cook for 15-20 minutes and avoid opening the oven door
throughout the entire cooking process; otherwise the PPC may deflate
mid-cooking.
While
the PPC is baking, mash the berries with sugar, salt, and lemon zest in a bowl
and set aside; this can also be done in advance.
Once
golden brown and puffed up, remove PPC from oven and allow to cool for no more
than 5 minutes; it will deflate over time once removed from the oven. Slice
into portions and serve with a dollop of Greek yogurt and spoon over the mashed
berries. Makes 4 modest dessert portions
or 2 generous breakfast portions.
______________________________________________________________________________
Sources:
Acerbi, Alberto, and Domenico Parisi. "Cultural Transmission between and
within Generations." Journal of
Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 9, no. 1 (2006).
Ali-Shtayeh, M.
S., R. M. Jamous, J. H. Al-Shafie, W. A. Elgharabah, F. A. Kherfan, K. H.
Qarariah, I. S. Khdair, et al.
"Traditional Knowledge of Wild Edible Plants Used in Palestine (Northern
West Bank): A Comparative Study." Journal
of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 4 (May 12 2008): 13.
Geng, Yanfei,
Yu Zhang, Sailesh Ranjitkar, Huyin Huai, and Yuhua Wang. "Traditional
Knowledge and Its Transmission of Wild Edibles Used by the Naxi in Baidi
Village, Northwest Yunnan Province." Journal
of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 12 (February 05 2016): 10.
Kaliszewska,
Iwona, and Iwona Kolodziejska-Degorska. "The Social Context of Wild Leafy
Vegetables Uses in Shiri, Daghestan." Journal
of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 11 (August 11 2015): 63.
Ophir, Adi, and
Steven Shapin. "The Place of Knowledge: A Methodological Survey." Science in Context 4 (1991): 3-21.
Pardo-de-Santayana,
Manuel, Javier Tardío, Emilio Blanco, Ana Carvalho, Juan Lastra, Elia San
Miguel, and Ramón Morales. "Traditional Knowledge of Wild Edible Plants
Used in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal): A
Comparative Study." Journal of
Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 3, no. 1 (2007): 27.
Signorini,
Maria Adele, Maddalena Piredda, and Piero Bruschi. "Plants and Traditional
Knowledge: An Ethnobotanical Investigation on Monte Ortobene (Nuoro,
Sardinia)." Journal of Ethnobiology
and Ethnomedicine 5 (Feb 10 2009): 6.
Uprety, Yadav,
Ram C. Poudel, Krishna K. Shrestha, Sangeeta Rajbhandary, Tiwar N. Narednra,
Uttam B. Shrestha, and Hugo Asselin. "Diversity of Use and Local Knowledge
of Wild Edible Plant Resources in Nepal." Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 8:16 (2012).
[1] Manuel Pardo-de-Santayana et al., "Traditional Knowledge of Wild
Edible Plants Used in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and
Portugal): A Comparative Study," Journal
of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 3, no. 1 (2007).
[2] See
Geng et al, Kaliszewska et al., Pardo-de-Santayana et al, and Signorini et al.
for more ethnobotanical studies relying on older informants.
[3] M. S. Ali-Shtayeh et al., "Traditional Knowledge of Wild Edible
Plants Used in Palestine (Northern West Bank): A Comparative Study," Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
4 (2008).
[4] Yanfei Geng et al., "Traditional Knowledge and Its Transmission of
Wild Edibles Used by the Naxi in Baidi Village, Northwest Yunnan
Province," ibid.12 (2016).
[5] Manuel Pardo-de-Santayana et al., "Traditional Knowledge of Wild
Edible Plants Used in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and
Portugal): A Comparative Study," ibid.3, no. 1 (2007).
[6] Yadav Uprety et al., "Diversity of Use and Local Knowledge of Wild
Edible Plant Resources in Nepal," ibid.8:16 (2012).
[7]
Ibid.
[8]
Ibid.
[9]
See Kaliszewska et al., Pardo-de-Santayana et al., and Signorini et al. for
more information about flowers as WFF.
[10] See
Kaliszewska et al., Pardo-de-Santayana et al., and Signorini et al. for more
information about flowers being traditionally a children’s snack.
[11] Pardo-de-Santayana et al.
[12] Maria Adele Signorini, Maddalena Piredda, and Piero Bruschi, "Plants
and Traditional Knowledge: An Ethnobotanical Investigation on Monte Ortobene
(Nuoro, Sardinia)," ibid.5 (2009).
[13] Iwona Kaliszewska and Iwona Kolodziejska-Degorska, "The Social
Context of Wild Leafy Vegetables Uses in Shiri, Daghestan," ibid.11
(2015).
[14]
Ibid.
[15] Adi Ophir and Steven Shapin, "The Place of Knowledge: A
Methodological Survey," Science in
Context 4 (1991).
[16] Pardo-de-Santayana et al.
[17] Yadav Uprety et al., "Diversity of Use and Local Knowledge of Wild
Edible Plant Resources in Nepal," ibid.8:16 (2012).
[18] Alberto Acerbi and Domenico Parisi, "Cultural Transmission between
and within Generations," Journal of
Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 9, no. 1 (2006).
[19]
Ibid.
[20]
Ibid.
[21]
See Al-Shtayeh et al., Kaliszewska et al., and Pardo-de-Santayana et al. for
explicit mentions of foraging practices’ link to more rural communities.
[22] Kaliszewska and Kolodziejska-Degorska.
[23]
Ibid.
[24]
See Geng et al., and Kaliszewska et al. for examples of young people moving
away from rural homes.
[25] Geng et al.
[26]
See Al-Shtayeh et al., Geng et al., Signorini et al., and Uprety et al. for
examples of motivation to conduct research due to a widespread erosion in WFF
knowledge.
