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Wild greens (WGs) play a significant role in Mediterranean diets (MDs), reflecting botanical and cultural diversities, mainly influenced by a complex conglomerate of local human ecologies. This study investigates local ecological knowledge (LEK) linked to traditional gathering and consumption of WGs in the Lasithi Plateau of eastern Crete, where human genetic studies one decade ago showed very peculiar patterns, hypothesising that the Minoan civilisation took refuge there before it disappeared. A field ethnobotanical study was conducted to document the diversity of WGs and their detailed local culinary uses in the Lasithi area by interviewing 31 study participants. Fifty-nine folk taxa (species and subspecies) were recorded, corresponding to fifty-eight botanical taxa. A quotation index was measured to assess the cultural significance of WGs in the study areas; logistic regression analysis was adopted to understand the impact of sensory classifications of WGs and their local cooking methods. Lasithi's foraging showed a notable prevalence of bitter-tasting WGs, which play a central role in local cognition and culinary practices. This bitterness aspect of WGs, potentially influenced by cultural preferences and genetic factors, probably suggests a connection to the ancient Lasithi's inhabitants, i.e., Minoan dietary habits. We found that bitterness is the predominant sensory attribute in Lasithi, characterising 45.76% of the WGs. These findings underscore the complex interplay between local ecologies and biodiversity, LEK, and dietary traditions, highlighting the importance of WGs in understanding the evolution of foraging and plant culinary diversities across the Mediterranean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farmers have a pivotal responsibility in soil conservation: they can either preserve or deplete it through their choices. The responsibility of agriculture increases when practised in delicate ecosystems, such as lagoonal ones. The Venetian Lagoon islands, which are increasingly subjected to natural and anthropic subsidence, occasional flooding events (acqua alta), and eustatic sea level rise, are constantly exposed to erosive processes that challenge farmers to play with their adaptive capability. This research was carried out on the islands of Sant'Erasmo and Vignole, the most representative of island agriculture in the Venetian Lagoon: they almost exclusively rely on agriculture, which is almost nil in the other islands. This empirical research aimed to explore farmers' agricultural practices, perceptions of soil changes, and how they adapt to them. It was fundamental for this study that the field research involved direct human contact with farmers (through semi-structured interviews) for data collection and using qualitative methods for data analysis, integrating scientific and non-scientific forms of knowledge and actors. The final purpose was to demonstrate the sustainability (valued on the potential depletion or regeneration capability) of agricultural practices and adaptation strategies on a theoretical basis. Despite their polycultural landscape (maintained by low-input farming systems), escaped from the predominant landscape oversimplification, Sant'Erasmo and Vignole are also subjected to unsustainable agricultural practices, including heavy mechanisation and synthetic inputs. Coupled with natural soil salinity that is exacerbated by increasing drought periods, these practices can contribute to soil degradation and increased salinity. The reported adaptation strategies, such as zeroed, reduced, or more conscious use of machines, were guided by the need to reduce the negative impact of soil changes on productivity. Our research revealed some of them as sustainable and others as unsustainable (such as increasing irrigation to contrast soil salinity). Participatory action research is needed to support farmers in designing effective sustainable agricultural practices and adaptation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wild vegetables (WVs) have been an essential source of human nutrition since ancient times. Foraging is a millennia-old practice that has gained more attention recently and is becoming fashionable, especially in restaurants in urban areas, as they attract customers who see WVs as an innovative sensory element and specialty food. Some cooks have used very few WVs for decades, but most chefs have only recently introduced them in their modern restaurants. Our study aims to have a deeper understanding of the diversity of WVs used by restaurants in the Lombardy region in Northern Italy and to know how they are introduced onto different menus, as well as the source of knowledge and the innovation paths related to the use/introduction of WVs in the selected sample of restaurants. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 restaurant managers, chefs, and their professional foragers in the Lombardy region in Northern Italy in 2022; fifty-four wild plant taxa were recorded to be used in the considered restaurants. The collected data were analyzed to understand the current situation and the potential developments of this practice by exploring the reasons/motivations that underpin the inclusion of WVs in restaurants. A broad spectrum of restaurants was considered to evaluate the potential differences in handling and sourcing these ingredients. The results demonstrated that this trend has mainly been driven by attempts to revitalize traditional cuisines and to generate a positive impact on health, but the actual culinary preparations based upon WVs are often original and remarkably diverge from the Italian food ethnobotanical heritage. Moreover, concerns related to the environmental sustainability of these practices have been addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Societal Impact Statement: Local knowledge is highly endangered in the modern world, and therefore, it is important to understand the factors contributing to the preservation of biocultural diversity. Three major aspects were identified: continuity of the practice, support for the ritual related to the use, and external acknowledgment of the local use by an authoritative source. Moreover, strong centralization of current local knowledge in institutionalized domains (ethnomedicine) was identified, which has excluded unacknowledged or officially unapproved local knowledge from circulation. The inclusion of local ecological knowledge as a practice in school curricula and the highlighting of local historical uses in herbals and popularizing activities are recommended. Summary: Plant use in local communities changes over time along with changing social, political, economic, and environmental conditions. The study aimed to understand the factors influencing the continuity of certain interactions between plants and people.To understand the drivers of resilience of the use of local flora, the historical (1930s) and current (2021) uses of plants on the small island of Kihnu in Estonia were compared, and the resilient uses were identified.Use resilience depended on the use domain. While the ethnoveterinary domain completely disappeared, the most resilient uses were those related to ritual (religious) activities, with 75% being retained (6 of 8 taxa used historically). This was followed by the wild food plant domain, in which 66% of taxa (21 of 32) have been retained, along with the highest proportion of taxa‐use combinations (57%, 21 of 37). Historically the largest domain, ethnomedicine showed low resilience: 18 of 73 taxa have been retained, with only eight emic (or local) plant uses (PU). Moreover, we observed that 75% of the retained emic PU (6 out of 8) were supported by a centralized medical system, while this proportion was 87% for current uses and only 15% for interrupted uses that were promoted or acknowledged in centralized herbals.As the most important aspects influencing the resilience of plant use are the continuity of practice, ritualization, and external support for usage, the inclusion of local ecological knowledge as a practice in school curricula and the highlighting of local historical uses in herbals and popularizing activities are strongly recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]