Wild food plants and fungi used by Ukrainians in the western part of the Maramureş region in Romania

Abstract

Wild food and fungi use in the countryside has always been an important part of human-nature relationships. Due to social changes in most rural areas of Europe this part of traditional ecological knowledge is shrinking. The aim of our study was to record the use of wild foods and plants among the Ukrainian (Carpatho-Rusyns) minority in the western part of Romanian Maramureş. We carried out 64 interviews in two villages. Voucher specimens were collected and DNA barcoding was used to identify most fungi taxa. We recorded the use of 44 taxa of plants altogether (including 8 taxa used only for herbal teas) and 24 taxa of fungi. On average 7.7 species of plants and 9.7 species of fungi were listed per interview. Edible fungi are thus an important part of local cuisine and they are eagerly gathered by everyone. The use of a few woodland bracket fungi is worth pointing out. No signs of degeneration of this knowledge were observed. Wild fruits are less collected now and wild greens are rarely collected nowadays. This pattern is typical of many places in Central Europe.

Plant and fungal use in Tusheti, Khevsureti, and Pshavi, Sakartvelo (Republic of Georgia), Caucasus

“…The species number found was, however, far higher than in most published studies from either the region or the wider Mediterranean and Eurasia region, with species counts between 44-330 [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. The highest number in these studies was, however, derived from a combination of food plants all over Italy [18].…”

Medicinal and Food Plants of Svaneti and Lechkhumi, Sakartvelo (Republic of Georgia), Caucasus

“…The number of species used in Svaneti and Racha was however far higher than in any published study from either the region or the wider Eurasia [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]. The much larger incidence of plant use for food might stem from the particularly long agricultural and gardening history in the Caucasus.…”

A century of changes in wild food plant use in coastal Croatia: the example of Krk and Poljica

“…For example, in the study from Dubrovnik we recorded 95 wild food species (19 per informant), in southern Herzegovina 82 species (14 per informant) and in the Zadar area 55 species (12 per informant). Also the proportion of the plant list (i.e., around half the list composed of wild vegetables, and a long list of plants used for herbal "recreational" teas) is typical for the Mediterranean in contrast to Central Europe where the use of fruits and mushrooms dominates over wild vegetables (e.g., [1,6,60]). The types of dishes made are also very similar to those made in other parts of the Mediterranean, i.e., cooked leafy vegetables, raw salads, jams, liqueurs, and herbal teas dominate.…”