Wild food plants traditionally consumed in the area of Bologna (Emilia Romagna region, Italy)

Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine

Annalisa Tassoni¹  Sabrina Sansanelli¹ 

[1] Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Irnerio 42, 40126 Bologna, Italy

关键词: Urtica spp;    Crepis vesicaria subsp. taraxacifolia;    Emilia-Romagna region;    Bologna;    Wild food plants;    Traditional local knowledge;    Ethnobotany;   

Others  :  1136006
DOI  :  10.1186/1746-4269-10-69

 received in 2014-03-11, accepted in 2014-08-27,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

This research was performed in an area belonging to the province of the city of Bologna (Emilia-Romagna region, Northern Italy). The purpose of the present survey was to record the local knowledge concerning traditional uses of wild food plants and related practices, such as gathering, processing, cooking, therapeutic uses, with the aim of preserving an important part of the local cultural heritage.

Methods

Thirty-nine people still retaining Traditional Local Knowledge (TLK) were interviewed between March-April 2012 and September - October 2013 by means of open and semi-structured ethnobotanical interviews. For each plant species mentioned, we recorded the botanical family, the English common name, the Italian common and/or folk names, the parts of the plant used, the culinary preparation, and the medicinal usage. The relative frequency of citation index (RFC), a tool that measures the local cultural importance of a plant species, was also included.

Results

The folk plants mentioned by the respondents belonged to 33 botanical families, of which the Rosaceae (14 plants) and the Asteraceae (9 plants) were the most representative. The species with the highest RFC index (0.77) were Crepis vesicaria subsp. taraxacifolia (Thuill) Thell and Taraxacum officinale Weber. Eleven folk plants were indicated as having therapeutic effects. T. officinale Weber, C. vesicaria subsp. taraxacifolia (Thuill) Thell and Sonchus spp., which are used as food, were reported to be depurative, blood cleaning, refreshing, diuretic and laxative. The most commonly used species was Urtica spp, which was also the most frequently cited for medicinal uses.

Conclusions

The present survey documented the wild food plant traditional knowledge of an area belonging to the province of the city of Bologna (Emilia-Romagna region, Northern Italy). The general perception obtained is that on one side the TLK related to wild food plants has strongly been eroded, mainly due to immigration and urbanization phenomena, whereas on the other side these plants are revaluated today because they are perceived as healthy and also because they represent the preservation of biodiversity and a way of getting back to nature.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Sansanelli and Tassoni; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

【 参考文献 】

• [1]Cederna C: Nostra Italia del miracolo. Milano: Longanesi; 1980.
• [2]Targioni-Tozzetti G: Alimurgia o sia modo di render meno gravi le carestie proposto per sollievo de’ poveri (etc.). Firenze: Moucke; 1767.
• [3]Sakarkar DM, Deshmukh VN: Ethnopharmacological review of traditional medicinal plants for anticancer activity. Int J PharmTech Res 2011, 3:298-308.
• [4]Silva JRA, Ramos A d S, Machado M, Moura DF, Neto Z, Canto-Cavalheiro MM, Figueiredo P, Rosário VE, Amaral ACF, Lopes D: A review of antimalarial plants used in traditional medicine in communities in Portuguese-Speaking countries: Brazil, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe and Angola. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz 2011, 106:142-158.
• [5]Paoletti MG, Dreon AL, Lorenzoni GG: Pistic, traditional food from Western Friuli, N.E. Italy. Econ Bot 1995, 49:26-30.
• [6]Pardo-de-Santayana M, Tardío J, Morales R: The gathering and consumption of wild edible plants in the Campoo (Cantabria, Spain). Int J Food Sci Nutr 2005, 56:542.
• [7]Łuczaj Ł, Köhler P, Piroznikow E, Graniszewska M, Pieroni A, Gervasi T: Wild edible plants of Belarus: from Rostafiński’s questionnaire of 1883 to the present. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 2013, 9:1-21. BioMed Central Full Text
• [8]Sanchez-Mata MC, Cabrera Loera RD, Morales P, Fernandez-Ruiz V, Cámara M, Díez Marqués C, Pardo-de-Santayana M, Tardío J: Wild vegetables of the Mediterranean area as valuable sources of bioactive compounds. Gen Resour Crop Ev 2012, 59:431-443.
• [9]Pereira C, Barros L, Carvalho AM, Ferreira ICFR: Nutritional composition and bioactive properties of commonly consumed wild greens: Potential sources for new trends in modern diets. Food Res Int 2011, 44:2634-2640.
• [10]The Local Food-Nutraceuticals Consortium: Understanding local Mediterranean diets: a multidisciplinary pharmacological and ethnobotanical approach. Pharmacol Res 2005, 52:353-366.
• [11]Trichopoulou A, Vasilopouloua E, Hollmanb P, Chamalidesc C, Foufac E, Kaloudisd T, Kromhoute D, Miskakid P, Petrochiloud I, Poulimac E, Stafilakisc K, Theophilouc D: Nutritional composition and flavonoid content of edible wild greens and green pies: a potential rich sources of antioxidant nutrients in the Mediterranean diet. Food Chem 2000, 70:319-323.
• [12]Leonti M, Nebel S, Rivera D, Heinrich M: Wild gathered food plants in the European Mediterranean: a comparative analysis. Econ Bot 2006, 60:130-142.
• [13]Pieroni A, Janiak V, Dürr CM, Lüdeke S, Trachsel E, Heinrich M: In vitro antioxidant activity of non-cultivated vegetables of ethnic Albanians in Southern Italy. Phytother Res 2002, 16:467-473.
• [14]Finkel T, Holbrook NJ: Oxidants, oxidative stress and the biology of ageing. Nature 2000, 408:239-247.
• [15]Maritim AC, Sanders RA, Watkins JB III: Diabetes, oxidative stress, and antioxidants: A Review. J Biochem Mol Toxic 2003, 17:24-38.
• [16]Pieroni A, Giusti ME, de Pasquale C, Lenzarini C, Censorii E, Reyes Gonzáles-Tejero M, Sánchez-Rojas CP, Ramiro-Gutiérrez JM, Skoula M, Johnson C, Sarpaki A, Della A, Paraskeva-Hadijchambi D, Hadjichambis A, Hmamouchi M, El-Jorhi S, El-Demerdash M, El-Zayat M, Al-Shahaby O, Houmani Z, Scherazed M: Circum-Mediterranean cultural heritage and medicinal plant uses in traditional animal healthcare: a field survey in eight selected areas within the RUBIA project. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 2006, 2:16-28. BioMed Central Full Text
• [17]Hadjichambis AC, Paraskeva-Hadjichambi DP, Della A, Giusti ME, De Pasquale C, Lenzarini C, Censorii E, Gonzales-Tejero MR, Sanchez-Rojas CP, Ramiro-Gutierres JM, Skoula M, Johnson C, Sarpaki A, Hmamouchi M, Jorhi S, El-Demerdash M, El-Zayat M, Pieroni A: Wild and semi-domesticated food plant consumption in seven circum-Mediterranean areas. Int J Food Sci Nutr 2008, 59:383-414.
• [18]Ghirardini MP, Carli M, Del Vecchio N, Rovati A, Cova O, Valigi F, Agnetti G, Macconi M, Adamo D, Traina M, Laudini F, Marcheselli I, Caruso N, Gedda T, Donati F, Marzadro A, Russi P, Spaggiari C, Bianco M, Binda R, Barattieri E, Tognacci A, Girardo M, Vaschetti L, Caprino P, Sesti E, Andreotti G, Coletto E, Belzer G, Pieroni A: The importance of a taste. A comparative study on wild food plant consumption in twenty-one local communities in Italy. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 2007, 3:1-22. BioMed Central Full Text
• [19]Łuczaj Ł, Pieroni A, Tardío J, Pardo-de-Santayana M, Sõukand R, Svanberg I, Kalle R: Wild food plant use in 21st century Europe: the disappearance of old traditions and the search for new cuisines involving wild edibles. Acta Soc Bot Pol 2012, 81:359-370.
• [20]Alexiades MN: Collecting ethnobotanical data: an introduction to basic concepts and techniques. In Selected Guidelines for Ethnobotanical Research: A Field Manual. Edited by Alexiades MN. New York: The New York Botanical Garden; 1996:53-94.
• [21]Tardìo J, Pardo-De-Santayana M: Cultural importance indiced: a comparative analysis based on the useful wild plants of Southern Cantabria (Northern Spain). Econ Bot 2008, 62:24-39.
• [22]Pignatti S: Flora d’Italia. Bologna: Edagricole; 1982.
• [23]Ungaretti G: Le piante aromatiche e medicinali nei nomi nell’uso e nella tradizione popolare bolognese. Bologna: Arnaldo Forni Editore; 1921.
• [24]Forbes MHC: Gathering in the Argolid: a subsistence subsystem in a Greek agricultural community. Ann NY Acad Sci 1976, 268:251-264.
• [25]Nebel S, Pieroni A, Heinrich M: Wild edible greens used in the Graecanic area in Calabria, Southern Italy. Appetite 2006, 47:333-342.
• [26]Pieroni A, Nebel S, Heinrich M: Food for two reasons: culinary uses of non-cultivated local vegetables and mushrooms in a south Italian village. Int J Food Sci Nutr 2005, 56:245-272.
• [27]Picchi G, Pieroni A: Atlante dei prodotti tipici. Le erbe. Roma: Rai – AGRA; 2005.
• [28]Łuczaj Ł, Fressel N, Perković S: Wild food plants used in the villages of the Lake Vrana Nature Park (northern Dalmatia, Croatia). Acta Soc Bot Pol 2013, 82:275-281.
• [29]Signorini MA, Lombardini C, Bruschi P, Vivona L: Conoscenze etnobotaniche tradizionali nel territorio di San Miniato (Pisa). Atti Soc tosc Sci nat, Mem Serie B 2007, 114:65-83.
• [30]Berlin B, Breedlove DE, Raven PH: General principles of classification and nomenclature in folk biology. Am Anthropol 1973, 75:214-242.
• [31]Łuczaj Ł, Končić MZ, Miličević T, Dolina K, Pandža M: Wild vegetable mixes sold in the markets of Dalmatia (southern Croatia). J Ethobiol Ethnomed 2013, 9:2. BioMed Central Full Text
• [32]Pieroni A, Quave CL: Functional food or food medicines? On the consumption of wild plants among Albanians and southern Italians in Lucania. In Eating and Healing: traditional food as medicine. Edited by Pieroni A, Price LL. New York: Haworth Press; 2006:101-129.
• [33]Bourgaud F, Gravot A, Milesi S, Gontier E: Production of plant secondary metabolites: a historical perspective. Plant Sci 2001, 161:839-851.
• [34]Bravo L: Polyphenols: chemistry, dietary sources, metabolism, and nutritional significance. Nutr Rev 1998, 56:317-333.
• [35]Rouseff RL: Bitterness in food products: an overview. In Bitterness in foods and beverages; developments in food science. Volume 25. Edited by Rouseff RL. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers BV; 1990::1-14.
• [36]Drewnowski A, Rock CL: The influence of genetic taste markers on food acceptance. Am J Clin Nutr 1995, 62:506-511.
• [37]Ames BN, Profet M, Gold LS: Dietary pesticides (99.99% all natural). Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1990, 87:7777-7781.