Local Wild Food Plants and Food Products in a Multi-Cultural Region: An Exploratory Study among Diverse Ethnic Groups in Bessarabia, Southern Moldova

Abstract

A growing number of studies have acknowledged that food and ethnobotanical heritage have traditionally played a crucial role in the resilience of local communities, and their potentially crucial role in addressing future challenges posed by the turbulent changes affecting food systems worldwide. However, the issue of how and why food heritage changes across cultures within the same or similar foodscapes is still largely under-investigated. To partially contribute to this debate, we conducted exploratory fieldwork research in 15 villages in the Bessarabia region in the southern part of Moldova. We aim to record this multiethnic region’s contemporary food and ethnobotanical heritage, focusing on the culinary uses and knowledge of plants, dishes, and artisanal food products. A total of 91 persons (37 men and 54 women) belonging to some of the most representative ethnic groups of the area (i.e., Moldovans, Gagauz, Bulgarians, and Ukrainians) were involved in this study. Among these groups, we recorded 66 plant and fungal taxa, as well as 42 traditional artisanal home-produced local food products and dishes. Overall, Moldovans showed a more vigorous food and ethnobotanical diversity in terms of the mentioned items than the other groups. Based on our exploratory field study, we identified possible factors that could be investigated to better explain the less biodiverse food heritage among the other three considered groups.