CONSERVATION OF CULINARY CUSTOMS: EXAMPLES FROM PUERTO RICO AND VIET NAM

Conservation may relate to biota or to societal customs. Two projects analyze persistence of traditional foods and practices in diaspora in the USA. First generation immigrants often share the drive to conserve elements of homeland culture. The plants in everyday cuisine are a good measure of such conservation. The ‘starchy crops’ of the Puerto Rican (PR) populations in CT, USA are one example; ‘leafy greens’ of the Vietnamese (VN) in OR, USA are another. There are similarities in persistence of foods such as true yams in CT vs. PR, and ‘Malabar Spinach’ in OR vs. VN. Some commodities are imported, but others are grown locally. This conservation leads to an increase in the diversity of crops sold, utilized, or sometimes grown in the US. This culinary cultural retention promotes crop diversity here and elsewhere.