Abstract
Biocultural heritage-based products, including regional specialty foods, are increasingly part of sustainable rural development strategies. While export-oriented biocultural products are often the most visible, we examine the role of campesino gastronomic heritage in the Central Valley of Tarija, Bolivia, as a case study of a local market-centered biocultural resource-based development strategy reflected in an alternative agri-food network. We develop a biocultural sustainability framework to examine this network from ecological, economic and sociocultural perspectives. Data are drawn from interviews (n = 77), surveys (n = 89) and participant observation, with primary and secondary producers of traditional and new products, as well as restaurant owners, market vendors and local consumers. We find that campesino biocultural heritage and the alternative agri-food network surrounding it represent an influential territorial project that underpins many household economies, particularly for women. We conclude that the relatively small investments by local governments to promote campesino gastronomic heritage are having positive ripple effects on small-scale producer livelihoods and on biocultural sustainability. We suggest that further support to increase market access and reduce other barriers to participation in alternative food networks will likely increase the options and benefits available to small-scale producers mobilising campesino gastronomic heritage within the local economy.
Highlights
It is 2:00 p.m. in the City of Tarija’s Central Market, and Doña Gloria has just sold the last serving of ranga-ranga—a hot and sometimes spicy dish of stewed tripe, potatoes, and yellow chilli peppers (Figure 1)
Our analysis aims analysis aims to support the work of biocultural design [1], agri-food network (AFN) and other rural development approaches, such as rural territorial development [2,3,4], seeking to use biocultural resources to further locally-defined development objectives associated with local food system sustainability
When biocultural diversity and heritage are mobilised as resources within territorial projects, such as the campesino gastronomic heritage (CGH) AFN in the Central Valley, relationships with the practices, materials and meanings constituting those resources are subject to reinterpretation, renegotiation and sometimes reconstruction [8,53,81,82]
Summary
It is 2:00 p.m. in the City of Tarija’s Central Market, and Doña Gloria has just sold the last serving of ranga-ranga—a hot and sometimes spicy dish of stewed tripe, potatoes, and yellow chilli peppers (Figure 1). This dish has been a key to Doña Gloria’s livelihood for fifty years, sustaining her children and herself as a single parent after her husband left. Food Economies: New Directions in Research,” seeks to develop a multidisciplinary discussion on how Economies: New Directions in Research,” seeks to develop a multidisciplinary discussion on how local local and regional agri-food systems are being reconstructed and reconfigured in response to the social, and regional agri-food systems are being reconstructed and reconfigured in response to the social, ecological and economic crisis of conventional agri-food systems. Our analysis shows that further investments to reduce market access barriers may increase the benefits benefits and options available to small-scale producers. To support the work of biocultural design [1], AFNs and other rural development approaches, such as rural territorial development [2,3,4], seeking to use biocultural resources to further locally-defined development objectives associated with local food system sustainability
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