This volume addresses recent and ongoing ethnobotanical studies in the Balkans. The book focuses on elaborating the relevance of such studies for future initiatives in this region, both in terms of sustainable and peaceful (trans-regional, trans-cultural) rural development. A multi-disciplinary viewpoint is utilized, with an incorporation of historical, ethnographic, linguistic, biological, nutritional and medical perspectives. The book is also authored by recognized scholars, who in the last decade have extensively researched the Balkan traditional knowledge systems as they pertain to perceptions of the natural world and especially plants. Ethnobotany and Biocultural Diversities in the Balkans is the first ethnobotany book on one of the most biologically and culturally diverse regions of the world and is a valuable resource for both scholars and students interested in the field of ethnobotany.

The tremendous increase in migrations and diasporas of human groups in the last decades are not only bringing along challenging issues for society, especially related to the economic and political management of multiculturalism and culturally effective health care, but they are also creating dramatic changes in traditional knowledge, believes and practices (KBP) related to (medicinal) plant use. The contributors to this volume - all internationally recognized scholars in the field of ethnobiology, transcultural pharmacy, and medical anthropology - analyze these dynamics of traditional knowledge in especially 22 selected case studies.

Andrea Pieroni is a Lecturer in Pharmacognosy, Herbal / Traditional Medicines and Ethnopharmacy at the School of Pharmacy at the University of Bradford, UK. He holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacy from the University of Bonn. His recent research concerns transcultural health and pharmacy, traditional medicines and ethnobotany. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the new Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine and the coordinator of the first collaborative ethnobotanical research project funded by the EU Commission (RUBIA).

Ina Vandebroek is a post-doctoral research associate at the Institute of Economic Botany, New York Botanical Garden, USA. She holds a Ph.D. in neurospychopharmacology from the University of Ghent, Belgium, and has conducted research into the ethnobotany and ethnomedicine of traditional healers in the Bolivian Andes and Amazon. The project she is currently working on at the New York Botanical Gardens is funded by the National Institutes of Health and involves the dynamics of medicinal plant knowledge and use by Dominican immigrants in New York City.

Discover neglected wild food sourcesthat can also be used as medicine! The long-standing notion of food as medicine, medicine as food, can be traced back to Hippocrates. Eating and Healing: Traditional Food As Medicine is a global overview of wild and semi-domesticated foods and their use as medicine in traditional societies. Important cultural information, along with extensive case studies, provides a clear, authoritative look at the many neglected food sources still being used around the world today. This book bridges the scientific disciplines of medicine, food science, human ecology, and environmental sciences with their ethno-scientific counterparts of ethnobotany, ethnoecology, and ethnomedicine to provide a valuable multidisciplinary resource for education and instruction. Eating and Healing: Traditional Food As Medicine presents respected researchers' in-depth case studies on foods different cultures use as medicines and as remedies for nutritional deficiencies in diet. Comparisons of living conditions in different geographic areas as well as differences in diet and medicines are thoroughly discussed and empirically evaluated to provide scientific evidence of the many uses of these traditional foods as medicine and as functional foods. The case studies focus on the uses of plants, seaweed, mushrooms, and fish within their cultural contexts while showing the dietary and medical importance of these foods. The book provides comprehensive tables, extensive references, useful photographs, and helpful illustrations to provide clear scientific support as well as opportunities for further thought and study. Eating and Healing: Traditional Food As Medicine explores the ethnobiology of: Tibetantioxidants as mediators of high-altitude nutritional physiology Northeast Thailandwild food plant gathering Southern Italythe consumption of wild plants by Albanians and Italians Northern Spainmedicinal digestive beverages United Statesmedicinal herb quality Commonwealth of Dominicahumoral medicine and food Cubapromoting health through medicinal foods Brazilmedicinal uses of specific fishes Brazilplants from the Amazon and Atlantic Forest Bolivian Andestraditional food medicines New Patagoniagathering of wild plant foods with medicinal uses Western Kenyauses of traditional herbs among the Luo people South Cameroonethnomycology in Africa Moroccofood medicine and ethnopharmacology Eating and Healing: Traditional Food As Medicine is an essential research guide and educational text about food and medicine in traditional societies for educators, students from undergraduate through graduate levels, botanists, and research specialists in nutrition and food science, anthropology, agriculture, ethnoecology, ethnobotany, and ethnobiology.

Discover neglected wild food sourcesthat can also be used as medicine! The long-standing notion of food as medicine, medicine as food, can be traced back to Hippocrates. Eating and Healing: Traditional Food As Medicine is a global overview of wild and semi-domesticated foods and their use as medicine in traditional societies. Important cultural information, along with extensive case studies, provides a clear, authoritative look at the many neglected food sources still being used around the world today. This book bridges the scientific disciplines of medicine, food science, human ecology, and environmental sciences with their ethno-scientific counterparts of ethnobotany, ethnoecology, and ethnomedicine to provide a valuable multidisciplinary resource for education and instruction. Eating and Healing: Traditional Food As Medicine presents respected researchers' in-depth case studies on foods different cultures use as medicines and as remedies for nutritional deficiencies in diet. Comparisons of living conditions in different geographic areas as well as differences in diet and medicines are thoroughly discussed and empirically evaluated to provide scientific evidence of the many uses of these traditional foods as medicine and as functional foods. The case studies focus on the uses of plants, seaweed, mushrooms, and fish within their cultural contexts while showing the dietary and medical importance of these foods. The book provides comprehensive tables, extensive references, useful photographs, and helpful illustrations to provide clear scientific support as well as opportunities for further thought and study. Eating and Healing: Traditional Food As Medicine explores the ethnobiology of: Tibetantioxidants as mediators of high-altitude nutritional physiology Northeast Thailandwild food plant gathering Southern Italythe consumption of wild plants by Albanians and Italians Northern Spainmedicinal digestive beverages United Statesmedicinal herb quality Commonwealth of Dominicahumoral medicine and food Cubapromoting health through medicinal foods Brazilmedicinal uses of specific fishes Brazilplants from the Amazon and Atlantic Forest Bolivian Andestraditional food medicines New Patagoniagathering of wild plant foods with medicinal uses Western Kenyauses of traditional herbs among the Luo people South Cameroonethnomycology in Africa Moroccofood medicine and ethnopharmacology Eating and Healing: Traditional Food As Medicine is an essential research guide and educational text about food and medicine in traditional societies for educators, students from undergraduate through graduate levels, botanists, and research specialists in nutrition and food science, anthropology, agriculture, ethnoecology, ethnobotany, and ethnobiology.

The study of European wild food plants and herbal medicines is an old discipline that has been invigorated by a new generation of researchers pursuing ethnobotanical studies in fresh contexts. Modern botanical and medical science itself was built on studies of Medieval Europeans' use of food plants and medicinal herbs. In spite of monumental changes introduced in the Age of Discovery and Mercantile Capitalism, some communities, often of immigrants in foreign lands, continue to hold on to old recipes and traditions, while others have adopted and enculturated exotic plants and remedies into their diets and pharmacopoeia in new and creative ways. Now in the 21st century, in the age of the European Union and Globalization, European folk botany is once again dynamically responding to changing cultural, economic, and political contexts. The authors and studies presented in this book reflect work being conducted across Europe's many regions. They tell the story of the on-going evolution of human-plant relations in one of the most bioculturally dynamic places on the planet, and explore new approaches that link the re-evaluation of plant-based cultural heritage with the conservation and use of biocultural diversity.

"The text itself is useful, entertaining, and informative. In addition, each chapter is a model for modern ethnobotanical studies. Rather than simply cataloguing plant use, each researcher analyzes the historical, societal, economic, or political aspects relevant to changes in human plant usage. Thus, the authors provide a true ethnobotanical resource that can be instructive to academic audiences." . Choice

The study of European wild food plants and herbal medicines is an old discipline that has been invigorated by a new generation of researchers pursuing ethnobotanical studies in fresh contexts. Modern botanical and medical science itself was built on studies of Medieval Europeans' use of food plants and medicinal herbs. In spite of monumental changes introduced in the Age of Discovery and Mercantile Capitalism, some communities, often of immigrants in foreign lands, continue to hold on to old recipes and traditions, while others have adopted and enculturated exotic plants and remedies into their diets and pharmacopoeia in new and creative ways. Now in the 21st century, in the age of the European Union and Globalization, European folk botany is once again dynamically responding to changing cultural, economic, and political contexts. The authors and studies presented in this book reflect work being conducted across Europe's many regions. They tell the story of the on-going evolution of human-plant relations in one of the most bioculturally dynamic places on the planet, and explore new approaches that link the re-evaluation of plant-based cultural heritage with the conservation and use of biocultural diversity.

Manuel Pardo-de-Santayana is a Senior Lecturer of botany and ethnobotany at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. He has been researching contemporary and historical uses of Spanish medicinal and wild food plants, homegardens, and folk botanical taxonomies at the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid (CSIC) and the School of Pharmacy (University of London) since 1995.

Andrea Pieroni is an Associate Professor of plant biology and ethnobotany at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Northern Italy. He is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine and the President of the International Society of Ethnobiology. His research focuses on food and medical ethnobotany in the Mediterranean and in the Balkan areas, and among migrant communities and diasporas in Europe.

Rajindra K. Puri is a Senior Lecturer in environmental anthropology and ethnobiology at the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK. While his primary research area is Indonesian Borneo, he also supervises M.Sc. and Ph.D. students who conduct ethnobotanical research in Europe. With Christian Vogl he co-organizes a summer field school in the Austrian Alps on methods in ethnobotany and works with the Global Diversity Foundation in Morocco, Malaysia and Namibia."

The tremendous increase in migrations and diasporas of human groups in the last decades are not only bringing along challenging issues for society, especially related to the economic and political management of multiculturalism and culturally effective health care, but they are also creating dramatic changes in traditional knowledge, believes and practices (KBP) related to (medicinal) plant use. The contributors to this volume - all internationally recognized scholars in the field of ethnobiology, transcultural pharmacy, and medical anthropology - analyze these dynamics of traditional knowledge in especially 22 selected case studies. Andrea Pieroni is a Lecturer in Pharmacognosy, Herbal / Traditional Medicines and Ethnopharmacy at the School of Pharmacy at the University of Bradford, UK. He holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacy from the University of Bonn. His recent research concerns transcultural health and pharmacy, traditional medicines and ethnobotany. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the new Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine and the coordinator of the first collaborative ethnobotanical research project funded by the EU Commission (RUBIA). Ina Vandebroek is a post-doctoral research associate at the Institute of Economic Botany, New York Botanical Garden, USA. She holds a Ph.D. in neurospychopharmacology from the University of Ghent, Belgium, and has conducted research into the ethnobotany and ethnomedicine of traditional healers in the Bolivian Andes and Amazon. The project she is currently working on at the New York Botanical Gardens is funded by the National Institutes of Health and involves the dynamics of medicinal plant knowledge and use by Dominican immigrants in New York City.

This volume addresses recent and ongoing ethnobotanical studies in the Balkans. The book focuses on elaborating the relevance of such studies for future initiatives in this region, both in terms of sustainable and peaceful (trans-regional, trans-cultural) rural development. A multi-disciplinary viewpoint is utilized, with an incorporation of historical, ethnographic, linguistic, biological, nutritional and medical perspectives. The book is also authored by recognized scholars, who in the last decade have extensively researched the Balkan traditional knowledge systems as they pertain to perceptions of the natural world and especially plants. Ethnobotany and Biocultural Diversities in the Balkans is the first ethnobotany book on one of the most biologically and culturally diverse regions of the world and is a valuable resource for both scholars and students interested in the field of ethnobotany.