IX. Food Systems

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Local ecological knowledge is being buried by the same communities that actively depended on it for their survival. Often due to urbanization and the limited dissemination of knowledge between generations, urban youth are less likely to come into contact with natural environments and are therefore unequipped to find relevance in ecological knowledge. Given this disconnect, various organizations are developing programs and tangible products to facilitate the learning of ecological knowledge. The Education Fund, an organization based in Miami, Florida, develops programs to mitigate this issue through their installations of food forests within local public schools and with the production of food forest guides. Programs such as these provide students a green space that aids in the ecological knowledge continuum, facilitates active learning through outdoor science-based lessons, and contributes to development of self-sustaining students through the participation of caring for and growing food.

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The ancient forest gardens of the Ts’mysen, Gitanyow, Nuu-chah-nulth, and Coast Salish reflect the legacy of Indigenous plant and soil stewardship, and are home to diverse, food-producing systems distinct from peripheral coniferous forests. Historical and ecological research demonstrates evidence of the higher biological and functional plant diversity of forest gardens, as well as distinct soil properties shaped by centuries of Indigenous management. To understand the legacy of Indigenous stewardship practices on soil microbial communities, we characterized and compared the soil microbiomes of culturally significant native plants in forest gardens to periphery conifer forests. Our results show greater microbial richness and diversity in garden soils, as well as overlapping microbial communities between certain native species. These results suggest that reclaiming people-forest-soil relationships are important to long-term forest health and resiliency, especially amidst a changing climate. They may also inform practical management practices to improve Indigenous food systems revitalization and ecological restoration outcomes today.

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Understanding the emergence and practice of dietary and behavioral restrictions is essential for exploring the influence of environmental conceptions on people's engagements with their world. Some evolutionary studies suggest that these practices are adaptive responses, for instance, to potentially harmful food. Ethnographic explanations account for cultural understandings of food taboos, but some are equally functionalist in that they conceive of such restrictions as general rules that contribute to the cohesion of the social group, ignoring individual variation in notions of non-humans. This presentation takes a novel ontological approach to understanding local conceptions associated with the food and behavioral restrictions practiced in an Indigenous Matsigenka community in Amazonian Peru. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods, this study explores how certain non-human beings are differently conceived, and why they are considered taboos. Based on these results, I propose a new theory to explain the emergence of ontological configurations underlying food and behavioral restrictions.

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As the integration of Indigenous and Western scientific knowledge systems within restoration ecology gains momentum, there is a pressing need for culturally appropriate, land-based methodologies that move beyond descriptive metaphors such as “braiding” and “two-eyed seeing.” This presentation introduces an Indigenized methodology that leverages the strengths of both knowledge systems to advance food systems reconciliation at Hwkw’akw’la’hwum, the Cowichan Bay Estuary on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Key approaches include reconstructing pre-colonial baselines to guide restoration planning through plant inventories and elevation modeling of legacy-state portions of Hwkw’akw’la’hwum; identifying and sourcing seeds and plants to honor place-based plant genetics; and developing a five-acre native plant nursery to expand seed and plant availability. We highlight the creation of art-based, community-driven knowledge translation tools, which serve as culturally resonant planning resources to mobilize and communicate the healing and restoration of Hwkw’akw’la’hwum.

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Using historical-ecological approaches, this research presents pathways for better understanding settler colonial and Quw’utsun (Cowichan, Coast Salish) land-use histories over decadal and centennial scales. Focusing on the Cowichan Bay Estuary, a highly developed and industrialized inlet on eastern Vancouver Island, and in collaboration with Cowichan Tribes, this research will integrate primary source data (early surveys, colonial era letters, etc.), ecological surveys, and ethnographic interviews, to assess how land-use in the estuary has changed over time. Preliminary results indicate that at the onset of early colonial incursions, the estuary was a dynamic food system characterized by forest gardens of Garry oak savannah, native fruit tree orchards, and intertidal root gardens. Within decades, commercial logging and farming resulted in a net turn-over in species and increased sediment loading (upwards of 2 m of sediment deposited in ~70 years), drastically reducing plant diversity and Quw’utsun food system resilience.

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Worldwide, modern food systems prioritize a limited range of low-nutrient plant species, often neglecting the rich diversity of nutrient-dense plants traditionally consumed by indigenous and rural communities, including those in Indonesia. Encouragingly, global interest in promoting biodiversity to enhance food, nutrition, and health by utilizing underexploited resources is increasing. In this context, Unconventional Food Plants (UFPs) have emerged as promising solutions to address public health challenges and nutritional disparities. However, evidence supporting their broader adoption remains limited, and their relationship with people’s health has not been thoroughly investigated. This study aimed to explore the correlation between UFP intake and individuals’ health through case studies conducted among local communities in rural areas across three regions of Indonesia. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were performed, incorporating various indicators. Mixed methods were employed, including an ethnobotanical survey, a food frequency questionnaire, and a standard subjective health assessment (SF-12).