WorldWild Podcast
Episode 10 3rd May 2019
Wild Food Traditions with Łukasz Łuczaj
We are outside talking to Łukasz Łuczaj, an expert food ethnobotanist from Poland. Łukasz goes into detail on his research around wild food traditions in Poland and other countries where he has traveled extensively to document and preserve traditional knowledge. He sees an important part of being a forager as being a 'documenter of knowledge', and that we only have so much time to receive this knowledge before it is lost forever.
Miles & Łukasz discuss topics such as peasant knowledge, wild food trends in Poland such as the dandelion boom of the 1980s and the current wild garlic craze, the story of Borscht, and wild cereals.
'The old people took that, they're gone now'
- Łukasz Łuczaj, episode 10
About Łukasz Łuczaj
Further reading
Łukasz Łuczaj is a botanist, forager, and academic. He lives in the Carpathian Mountains of South-Eastern Poland where has his ‘wild garden’ aimed at maximising biodiversity, including a field for endangered weed species. He travels extensively to document fast-fading knowledge, folklore, and uses of plants. He conducts archival and first-hand research in many Eastern European countries as well as field research in China, Laos, the Caucasus, and the Balkans. He has taught Biology at the University of Rzeszów since 2011 and is the head of the Botany Department.
> Find more from Łukasz at his website.
> Learn more about Łukasz's ethnobotanical research.
> Further study: Ethnobotany and Biogeography of Wild Vegetables in the Adriatic Islands.
> Recipe for Fermented Hogweed Borscht
> Further study: History of Dock Pudding in Yorkshire
About the show
We offer a series of conversations to tap into the wildness within ourselves and to uncover what is possible when we do. It is our hope that through the WorldWild Podcast we can contribute to the revitalisation of wild food culture and conversation around the world.
Through people who know their landscapes intimately, we gather the threads to weave a rich tapestry. Piece by piece the vision of a wilder world comes into view. The wild embrace of nature welcomes us back and offers us a seat at the table. A feast, no less!
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