When the Local Cuisine Still Incorporates Wild Food Plants: The Unknown Traditions of the Monti Picentini Regional Park (Southern Italy)

Abstract

When the Local Cuisine Still Incorporates Wild Food Plants: The Unknown Traditions of the Monti Picentini Regional Park (Southern Italy). Wild food plants are still part of the culinary traditions of many rural areas in the Mediterranean. This study aims to document these traditions and the food uses of wild plants in an area of the Monti Picentini Regional Park. We performed an ethnobotanical survey between 2013 and 2015 using standard ethnographic methods. We analyzed the gathered data using ethnobotanical indices, and we compared our results with relevant literature pertaining to uses of wild food plants in Central and Southern Italy. We interviewed 64 key informants, whose ages ranged between 40 and 93 years, and we gathered about 1900 use citations about the traditional food uses of 84 wild plant species. Many of these species are still incorporated into traditional dishes. We recorded the previously unknown food use of four plant species (Rubus hirtus Waldst. & Kit.; Petasites hybridus [L.] G. Gaertn., B. Mey. & Scherb.; Asphodelus macrocarpus Parl.; and Oenanthe fistulosa L.). We also highlighted several rare food uses as well as many other uses that are common across Central and Southern Italy. Knowledge concerning the uses of wild food plants is part of Italy’s history and culture, and it should be preserved before modernization of lifestyles and homogenization of food habits extinguish this realm of food and culinary knowledge.