Devil Is in the Details: Use of Wild Food Plants in Historical Võromaa and Setomaa, Present-Day Estonia

Abstract

Biodiversity needs to be preserved to ensure food security. Border zones create high but vulnerable biocultural diversity. Through reviewing scattered historical data and documenting the current use of wild food plants among people currently living in historical Setomaa and Võromaa parishes, we aimed to identify cross-cultural differences and diachronic changes as well as the role borders have played on the local use of wild plants. The Seto have still preserved their distinctive features either by consciously opposing others or by maintaining more historical plant uses. People historically living in Setomaa and Võromaa parishes have already associated the eating of wild plants with famine food in the early 20th century, yet it was stressed more now by the Seto than by Estonians. Loss of Pechory as the center of attraction in the region when the border was closed in the early 1990s brought about a decline in the exchange of knowledge as well as commercial activities around wild food plants. National support for businesses in the area today and the popularity of a healthy lifestyle have introduced new wild food plant applications and are helping to preserve local plant-specific uses in the area.

Dining Tables Divided by a Border: The Effect of Socio-Political Scenarios on Local Ecological Knowledge of Romanians Living in Ukrainian and Romanian Bukovina

“…A few studies on the influence of the border in Bukovina with regard to the use of wild plants have been published [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 37 ]. However, the rich biocultural diversity of border areas due to different cultures, ethnos, religions, rituals and multiplex geopolitical and socio-economic conditions in a relatively small space [ 38 ] requires more research [ 39 ]. This is even more important in the current era of globalization and the homogenization of cultures, languages and natural resource use [ 40 , 41 , 42 ], as biocultural diversity is dynamic, involving both ecological and cultural relationships, changing the use of wild plants due to a variety of external factors [ 42 ].…”

Language of Administration as a Border: Wild Food Plants Used by Setos and Russians in Pechorsky District of Pskov Oblast, NW Russia

“…Between 1920 and 1940, the territory was part of Estonian Republic. As the ethnobotany of Seto has been recently described as a part of the same project [ 13 ], we took a comparative case from Pechorsky District of Pskov Oblast of the Russian Federation, a rural area where two ethnic groups, Setos and Russians, have historically resided side by side [ 14 ]. This gives us the possibility to compare the influence of administrative and state division, as the Seto community was divided in two by an administrative border in 1944 and later by a state border in 1991.…”

Contribution of the Wild Food Plants in the Food System of Tribal Belt of Pakistan; The Pak - Afghan Border Region

“…It is also confirmed by researchers that most of them are rich source of bioactive compounds such as essential Fatty Acids, Vitamins and complex sugars [9][10][11] and can contribute significantly in the mitigation of malnutrition [3]. Its importance is crucially emphasized in income generation, poverty reduction, nutritional balance, ensuring food security and agricultural diversification by number of studies [12,13]. One of the major contribution of WFPs is in food security that also offer alternate source and diversity in the food system of traditional communities [14].…”

“…(12) Which one is the best season of collection? (13) What traditional dish has this WFPs? If not now, have they such experiences in the past please mention?…”