Wild food plants and minor crops in the Ripollès district (Catalonia, Iberian Peninsula): potentialities for developing a local production, consumption and exchange program

Abstract

BackgroundWild food plants (WFP) have always been consumed by humans, first as the main basis of their food and, since the origins of agriculture, as ingredients of normal diets or as an alternative during situations of scarcity. In contemporary industrialized societies their use is for the most part being abandoned, but they may still play an important role. With the purpose of advancing in the ethnobotanical knowledge of one region of the Catalan Pyrenees, the present study reports the findings of a research project conducted in the Ripollès district (Catalonia, Iberian Peninsula), concerning ethnobotanical knowledge and use of wild and semi-wild vascular plants as foods, along with minor crops.MethodsFrom August 2004 to July 2014, we performed 104 interviews (93 of which yielded data on food plants) with 163 informants, using the method of semi-structured ethnobotanical interview. We identified the plants quoted and kept herbarium vouchers.ResultsWe detected 967 use reports for 80 wild or naturalized taxa, which are or have been consumed in the Ripollès district, the most cited being Taraxacum dissectum, Cynara cardunculus and Origanum vulgare. Certain frequently reported species such as Molopospermum peloponnesiacum and Taraxacum dissectum have only been rarely cited previously or indicated as food plant in very restricted geographical areas. Most cited families included Asteraceae and Lamiaceae, followed by Rosaceae and Apiaceae. Preferred consumed plant parts included leaves, followed by aerial parts, along with fruits and infructescences, while most wild food plants are eaten raw or used as condiments. Demographic factors such as age and locality of informants seem to be more relevant to wild food plant knowledge than gender. Middle-aged people and inhabitants from the Higher Freser River Valley seem to have a greater knowledge of WFP, both in relation to the number of species elicited, as well as the diversity of uses and preparations. To a lesser degree, women seem to have a slightly higher WFP knowledge than men. The consumption of these resources is still fairly alive amongst the populace, yet changes affecting younger generations–in most cases abandonment–have been reported by various participants.ConclusionThe information provided by this kind of research permits the detection of those traditional species that could constitute the basis for the future development and management of wild edible plant resources along with minor crops. It also helps to determine the factors affecting their use, as well as the distinct target groups that such programmes could be addressed to.

The wild taxa utilized as vegetables in Sicily (Italy): a traditional component of the Mediterranean diet

“…Gmel.) Hegi (Vitaceae) are consumed in Spain as well as species belonging to the genera Aegilops and Stipa of Poaceae that are used as vegetables [ 68 – 70 ]. Among the Crassulaceae, the leaves of Sedum album L., S. sediforme (Jacq.)…”

“…In Spain, the edible use of Pteridium aquilinum , assumed to be very harmful to human health in Sicily, is reported. [ 63 , 70 ]. The use of Ferula communis L. was detected in Morocco [ 73 , 74 ].…”

Folk medicinal plant mixtures: Establishing a protocol for further studies

“…On the one hand, the doctoral thesis of Parada (2008) on traditional knowledge of plants in the Alt Empordà and on the other hand, the ethnobotanical study conducted in Ripollès (Rigat et al, in press). In both cases, a long series of publications has derived from these studies (Gras et al, 2016;Parada et al, 2009Parada et al, , 2012Rigat et al, 2015Rigat et al, , 2016 and references therein).…”

Wild vegetables do not lie: Comparative gastronomic ethnobotany and ethnolinguistics on the Greek traces of the Mediterranean Diet of southeastern Italy

“…Moreover, some ethnobotanical studies have assessed the wild food vegetables in the local daily diets of coastal and/or rural Mediterranean areas of Spain, Southern Italy, Turkey, Croatia and Herzegovina (Tardío et al 2005;Della et al 2006;Dogan 2012;Łuczaj et al 2013;Biscotti & Pieroni 2015;Łuczaj & Dolina 2015;Licata et al 2016;Rigat et al 2016;Geraci et al 2018). However, such research in the Near East and Northern Africa is still extremely rare (Abdalla 2004;Marouf et al 2015).…”