The Role of Wild Food in Fostering Healthy, Sustainable, and Equitable Food Systems

In this paper, we provide an overview of the research and literature on wild foods (i.e., edible plants that grow without human cultivation and/or animals harvested from their natural habit, i.e., food sourced from “hunting and gathering”) and their ability to assist food systems in becoming more su...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2024-11, Vol.16 (21), p.9556
Main Authors: Scott, Madison M, Carolan, Michael S, Long, Michael A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Biodiversity
Capitalism
Cereals
Community
COVID-19
Crops
Culture
Farmers
Food security
Food supply
Green Revolution
Knowledge
Land reform
Multiculturalism & pluralism
Pandemics
R&D
Research & development
Rice
Social change
Supply chains
Sustainability
Sustainable agriculture
Wheat
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Summary:In this paper, we provide an overview of the research and literature on wild foods (i.e., edible plants that grow without human cultivation and/or animals harvested from their natural habit, i.e., food sourced from “hunting and gathering”) and their ability to assist food systems in becoming more sustainable and equitable. We begin with a discussion on the green revolution and the global capitalist food system that has been created and is dominated by large agribusinesses. Next, we turn to a brief discussion of how homogenizing the food system, as large agribusinesses have, leads to a corresponding loss of local culture. We then provide an overview of the main areas of wild food research, including nutrition, reducing food insecurity, the importance of cultural and shared knowledge, and sustainability. Our discussion stresses how focusing too heavily on the dichotomy of cultivated vs. wild food is problematic. Rather, lessons regarding health, sustainability, and equity can be learned from foragers, hunters and gathers.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su16219556