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Building Leadership through Reconnection: The Latin American Academy for Food Systems Resilience

Yolanda López Maldonado The Indigenous Peoples of Peru have developed unique traditional knowledge around their food systems. This long tradition is related to the concept of Sumaq Causay, a central philosophy in the Andean Indigenous cosmovision: a holistic vision that takes into account diverse elements of the human condition, recognizing that a range of factors

Reviving Foods, Preserving Culture: My Journey as an Indigenous Food Entrepreneur

Indigenous knowledge

by Aruna Tirkey . I want to share with you the story of a journey I have begun. I am not on my way to a physical destination; rather, I am moving toward a goal: to revive local and Indigenous food as a means to strengthen my own Indigenous culture. To get there, I’m not counting on

The Flavors of Resilience: A Visual Journey through Ethiopia’s Foodscape

langscape magazine

Text, videos, and photos by Viveca Mellegård Last year I traveled to Gambella, a province of southwestern Ethiopia, with my colleague, Dr. Million Belay. His research centers around the country’s food system, from seed to plate and all the steps in between. It was my first time there and understanding how food is produced gave me

Safeguarding Food-Producing Cultural Landscapes: The Role of the UNESCO-Greece Melina Mercouri International Prize

UNESCO

by Mechtild Rössler, Akane Nakamura, and Roland Chih-Hung Lin On July 1, 2018, ancestral lands situated in the heart of Canada’s boreal forest were added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO’s) World Heritage List for their outstanding cultural and natural value. The place is called Pimachiowin Aki, or “the Land that Gives

Old Seeds, New Growth: Harvesting Community Empowerment from a School Garden in Kenya

by Eliot Gee Josephat Werimo doesn’t have an easy job. As principal at Mundika Special School, he is responsible for over one hundred students with disabilities. The staff is dedicated to making the school a safe haven for the students, many of whom are regarded as burdens in their own homes. Parents often entrust their

Celebrating Body and Soul: A Tea-Making Festival Reunites Russians with Their Cultural Traditions

Founder of the festival

by Mariia Ermilova and Tatiana Ilinich Every Russian knows the tall herb with elegant pink flowers and a reddish stem: Ivan-Chai (Epilobium angustifolium or Chamaenerion angustifolium). This plant is found throughout Russia, from Europe to the Far East. It usually appears on the outskirts of towns, one of the first species to appear when land

CreativeVoice: Cooking Stories with Native Maize

biocultural diversity

by Flor Rivera López . This is the story of a project aiming to promote native maize biodiversity conservation in Mexico. It started when I was having a conversation with native maize farmers there about transgenic corn and its potential effects. An elderly farmer told me, “You are concerned about what kind of seed we will

A Chicken for Every Occasion: Exploring the Significance of India’s Native Poultry Breeds

biological diversity

by Kanna K. Siripurapu and Sabyasachi Das . . A few months ago, I received a document written by my colleague Uday Kalyanapu about the success of a backyard poultry project in the tribal-dominated areas of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The project was started by WASSAN (Watershed Support Services and Activities Network), the

Mujeres y Maíz: Expanding Food Choices for Rural Women in Southern Mexico

biocultural diversity

Text by Constanza Monterrubio Solís Photos by Inanc Tekguc Preparing and sharing food is one of the many nourishing activities that rural women carry out day by day. The diversity of grains used, cultivation methods, processing techniques, and preparation preferences are elements that tell us powerful stories about local biocultural traditions. The social and geographical

Nostalgia and Spleen: Feeding the Body, Rediscovering Self Through Sicilian Street Food

Sicilian Street Food

Text and photos by Vincenzo Di Giorgi Last fall I was sitting on a marble bench right next to the Cala, a U-shaped cove in the coast of Palermo, watching the boats nearby being rocked by the gentle wind, their masts swaying. I was focusing on the wall painting on the other side of the