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The historical and environmental characterization of local foodways: “applied historical geography” case studies in Liguria (NW Italy)

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The historical and environmental characterization of local

foodways: “applied historical geography” case studies in

Liguria (NW Italy).

Cevasco R.*, Gabellieri N.^, Montanari C.°, Moreno D.°, Pescini V.°, Traldi C.°

*University of Gastronomic Sciences, Pollenzo / ^University of Trento / °University of Genoa

Laboratory of Environmental Archaeology and History (LASA)

corresponding author: [email protected]

POS 4 #919

Background

In 2013, the Mediterranean diet - or a set of skills,

knowledge, rituals, symbols and traditions concerning crops, harvesting, fishing, animal husbandry, conservation, processing, cooking, and particularly the sharing and consumption of food–

has been listed in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list. The importance of characterizing and maintaining the 'traditional' and local foodways have been emphasized and promoted also during EXPO 2015 in Milan.

Methodology

Since the 90s, the Laboratory of Environmental

Archaeology and History (LASA) of the University

of Genoa, has developed a multidisciplinary and

multi-proxy approach to the study of past agro-sylvo-pastoral practices, as well as of their

ecological effects in current landscapes (Cevasco, 2007). This method can be applied to the study

of local food production systems, or “foodways”,

localising the historical relationship between local producers and environmental resources.

This allows us to extract a more precise meaning of the “liens aux lieux” (Bérard, Marchenay, 2004) in use to define the geographical relationship among “terroirs” and their products.

Edible grass from sheep pasture

In the winter quartiers (locally called “marina”) the coastal cultivated areas were guaranteed

by fertilization of ovine transhumance

flocks. The pastoral resource in this area

consisted mainly in ancient grassland lying on common lands set on the slopes and along the rivers (Fig. 3).

References

Andrews C., Flavours on the Riviera, Bantam Books, New York, 1996.

Bérard L., Marchenay P., Les produits de terroir : Entres cultures et règlements, Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2004

Cevasco R., Poggi G., L’Alpe, l’arbre et le lait. Pour une valorisation environne- mentale et culturelle des pruduits de terroir de la montagne ligure (Italie), “Sud- Ouest Européen”, 6, 2000, pp. 35-48. Cevasco R., Memoria verde. Nuovi spazi per la geografia, Diabasis, Reggio Emilia, 2007.

Gabellieri N., Primi A., Uso del suolo e rischio idrogeologico: historical GIS e analisi geostorica della Val Bisagno (GE) dal XIX secolo ad oggi. In: AAVV., Atti della XXI Conferenza Nazionale ASITA, ASITA, 2017, pp. 571-580. Molinari C., Ricerche palinologiche per l’identificazione di sistemi agro-silvo-pastorali storici, PhD Thesis, Università di Genova, 2010

Moreno D., Activation practices, history of environmental resources, and conservation, in Sanga G., Ortalli G. (Eds), Nature knowledge: ethnoscience, cognition and utility, Berghahn, Oxford, 2003, pp. 386–390 Moreno D., Raggio O., The Making and Fall of an Intensive Pastoral Land-use-system. Eastern Liguria, 16-19th Century, in RStLig, 56, 1990, pp. 193-217

Poggi, G., Pratiche di attivazione: effetti della raccolta tradizionale di vegetali spontanei ed ecologia storica del sito (Arbora – Valle T. Recco – Liguria orientale) 18°-19° secolo, in APM, All’Insegna del Giglio, Firenze, 1997, pp. 95-100.

Fig. 1: Case studies location map

Fig. 3: Hand-drawn military map “Carta di Genova e dei

suoi dintorni”, (1815-16). Ancient grasslands and meadows

along the Bisagno river and on the common lands slopes.

Case study

The chosen “terroir” is an area called in chorographic sources of 16th century “Montagna di

Fascia”, a relief lying along the coast between

Genova and the Portofino cape in eastern Liguria (Fig. 1).

This terroir organisation was centered on ovine

transhumance moving from winter quartiers on the coast to summer quartiers on the upper N-W Appennines (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2: graphical representation of spatial relationship between site, terroirs, products and ovine transhumance.

TYRRENIAN SEA

Genoa

Recco

Transhumance winter quarters

N-W APPENNINES

Transhumance summer quarters

Montagna di Fascia

Terroir

0 m 1600 m 200 m 1200 m

“Praebuggiun” salad and “Mollana”

fresh cheese

The traditional dish of Liguria named “praebuggiun” (dial.) is a herbs salad, commonly consumed boiled adding garlic, oil and mashed potatoes. In the study area

praebuggiun is also used to fill, added with the

soft cheese “prescinseua”, the pasta called “pansotti”; when fill a fried wheat pastry it is called “figaçette” (Andrews, 1996).

Taxa Vernacular name

Urospermum dalechampii Bell’ommu

Papaver rhoeas Papavau

Sangisorba minor Pimpinella

Taraxacum officinalis Piscialettu, Dente de can

Ranunculus ficaria Pren

Campanula rapunculus Rampunzi

Silene vulgaris Scipuelli

Sonchus oleraceus Scixerbua

Leontodon hispidus Spaisina

Reichardia picroides Talaegua, Rattalaegua

? Denti de cuniggiu

? Radiciun sarvaegu

Fig. 4: list of present herbs species composing

praebuggiun in the Recco valley

In the Recco valley the collection of praebuggiun

was part of a multiple land use system characterized, in different periods of the year, by different practices such as: bovine grazing (until

’60), the use of controlled fire and the mowing of the grass (Fig. 5 and 6).

As showed in picture 7 the abandonment of such

practices caused the loss of Montagna di Fascia ancient grassland biodiversity.

Consequently, ovine and bovine grazing disappeared between 1900-1960 and within the related product (“mollana” fresh cheese): nowadays it resists only in few local family households.

This system characterizes the entire ligurian coast until the beginning of 20th century and it is now disappeared (Moreno, Raggio, 1990).

Even if praebuggiun continues to be eaten in eastern Liguria, practices associated with

herbs collection, the activation effects of grazing and the ancient grasslands have

now almost disappeared. Cartographic

analysis (study of the historical land use changes, 1798-1994) and historical ecology observation (list of present herbs species see Fig. 4) done in the Recco valley (Poggi, 1997) helped to characterize environmentally and historically the local praebuggiun production systems.

Qcode

Fig. 6: variation in the number of herbs species detected during the annual production cycle. A: praebuggiun collection period; B: mowing period I; C: mowing period II; D: rest period

1.collection (cut) 2. collection (tear) 3. pollarding 4. mowing 5. pasturing of cattle 6. collection (eradication) 7. mowing 8. brushcutting 9. cut 10. collection 11. collection

Fig. 5: Annual cycle of activation practices and of herbs and shrubs production in the Recco valley (Poggi, 1997)

Fig. 7: graph showing the estimate of the degree of biodiversity based on pollen analysis in a grassland site of the winter quartiers (Lago della Nava) (Molinari, 2010) Circled in red species decrease between 1800-2000 AD.

See the relation with microcharcoal decrease assumed as indicator of pastoral system abandonment.

Conclusion

1)The complex relationship spatial and temporal between site, terroir and products can be identified

through an applied historical-geographical analysis (in a multi-proxy perspective);consequently, 2)so called

“traditional foodways”can be precisely characterized in their own historical process.

Riferimenti

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