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The Bounty of Biodiversity

Empowering Cultural Connections to Nature through Foraging

About this Session

The virtual event brought together Berkeley Open Source Food, The Sioux Chef, UBC Botanical Garden and TEALEAVES for a virtual Tea & Talk on the value and historical significance of the edible plants all around us. Watch the event recording and join the conversation to get in touch with your inner naturalist, and become empowered by the bounty of biodiversity in celebration of Wild and Feral Food Week 2020.

The value of local plant species has been an essential element of many cultures dating back millennia. Yet today, where 75% of our diet comes from only 12 crops (FAO), the names and uses of these wild and feral foods have been selectively bred out of our edible vocabulary.

To watch the virtual event recording, click here!

The virtual event includes screenings of two short video stories on the cultural, nutritional, and environmental benefits of foraging from our expert panelists, followed by an enriching Q&A conversation.

 

UN Sustainable Design Goals Addressed

 

Listen Now!

 

About Wild and Feral Food Week

To discover more about Wild and Feral Food Week, visit: https://forage.berkeley.edu/6th-wild-feral-food-week/

 

Event Viewing Material

Video #1: The Sioux Chef

Video #2: Foraged Superfoods

 

Event Speakers

Douglas Justice, Associate Director, Horticulture & Collections, UBC Botanical Garden

Douglas is responsible for horticulture and the collections at UBC Botanical Garden. He also teaches and writes on a variety of plant-related topics. An advocate for trees and the conservation of natural ecosystems, Douglas believes that landscapes are best created, sustained and repaired by increasing complexity and fostering biodiversity. He is also convinced that beauty, whether ephemeral, ancient, biological, or created, is essential for people’s happiness.

Dr. Daphne Miller, Physician (Harvard Medical School); Author

Dr. Daphne Miller, MD, is a practicing family physician, author, Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California San Francisco and Research Scientist at University of California Berkeley. As founder of the Health from the Soil Up Initiative, she studies the connections among health, culture, and agriculture, with the goal of building a healthier and more resilient food system from the soil up. For the past fifteen years, her work has focused on aligning agriculture and conservation with human health.

Chef Sean Sherman, CEO/founder, The Sioux Chef

Sean Sherman, founder of the company The Sioux Chef is committed to revitalizing Native American cuisine. Through his research over the last seven years, he has uncovered the foundations of the Indigenous food systems. This begins by looking at the regional differences and diversity of foods all over North America. He brings this knowledge through the lens of an evolution of Native American foods such as cooking techniques and applies these practices to modern life.

 

Professor Philip B. Stark, Professor of Statistics, Associate Dean of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of California, Berkeley

Philip B. Stark is Professor of Statistics and Associate Dean of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. As well as the founder of Berkeley Open Source Food. He studies inference and uncertainty quantification in physical, biological, and social sciences. He is passionate about urban foraging. Stark studies the safety, nutrition, and availability of wild and feral foods in urban ecosystems and their value for ecosystem services and nutrition security.

Read more from our collaborators on this important topic: here.

Embracing Invasivory Through Urban Foraging

 

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