IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i12p5105-d375154.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Wild Food Thistle Gathering and Pastoralism: An Inextricable Link in the Biocultural Landscape of Barbagia, Central Sardinia (Italy)

Author

Listed:
  • Giulia Mattalia

    (University of Gastronomic Sciences, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele 9, 12042 Pollenzo, Italy
    Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, 30172 Mestre, Italy)

  • Renata Sõukand

    (Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, 30172 Mestre, Italy)

  • Paolo Corvo

    (University of Gastronomic Sciences, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele 9, 12042 Pollenzo, Italy)

  • Andrea Pieroni

    (University of Gastronomic Sciences, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele 9, 12042 Pollenzo, Italy
    Medical Analysis Department, Faculty of Science, Tishk International University, Qazi Muhammad, 44001 Erbil, Iraq)

Abstract

In Sardinia, pastoralism has been at the heart of cultural identity for millennia. Such activity has shaped the landscape by sustainably managing its elements over the centuries. We conducted 30 semi-structured interviews regarding the uses of wild plants as well as their contribution to sheep breeding over the last few decades in two villages of Barbagia di Ollolai. We recorded the use of 73 taxa belonging to 35 families. Over one-third of the vernacular food taxa were mentioned as raw snacks. Specifically, 22% were used only as raw snacks, while another 22% were used as raw snacks in addition to other uses. Indeed, there is a subcategory of raw snacks represented by thistle plants, named cardu, referring to thorny herbaceous taxa. Cardu are often related to the pastoral realm in the Mediterranean Basin as they are gathered, often with the help of a knife, peeled with the blade, and consumed on the spot while grazing sheep, but ultimately, their crunchiness provides a pleasant chewing experience. In addition, cardu may have been used as thirst quenchers. We conclude that pastoral activity has significantly contributed to the development of a distinctive food heritage and cultural landscape.

Suggested Citation

  • Giulia Mattalia & Renata Sõukand & Paolo Corvo & Andrea Pieroni, 2020. "Wild Food Thistle Gathering and Pastoralism: An Inextricable Link in the Biocultural Landscape of Barbagia, Central Sardinia (Italy)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-23, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:12:p:5105-:d:375154
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/12/5105/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/12/5105/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. V. Santoni & M. Pulina, 2016. "An analysis on the Italian agricultural firms: effects of public subsidies," Working Paper CRENoS 201611, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chang Li & Tong Tong & Shutong Ge, 2023. "Evaluating the Ecological Sustainability of Agrifood Land in Ethnic Minority Areas: A Comparative Study in Yunnan China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-14, June.
    2. Muhammad Abdul Aziz & Zahid Ullah & Andrea Pieroni, 2020. "Wild Food Plant Gathering among Kalasha, Yidgha, Nuristani and Khowar Speakers in Chitral, NW Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-23, November.
    3. M. H. Easdale & C. L. Michel & D. Perri, 2023. "Biocultural heritage of transhumant territories," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(1), pages 53-64, March.
    4. Giorgio Mina & Valentina Scariot & Giovanni Peira & Giampiero Lombardi, 2023. "Foraging Practices and Sustainable Management of Wild Food Resources in Europe: A Systematic Review," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-22, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:12:p:5105-:d:375154. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.