Department of Botany, Kohat University of Science and Technology, Kohat, 26000, Pakistan.
Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Princess Nourh bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, 11671, Saudi Arabia.
J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2024 Nov 19;20(1):99. doi: 10.1186/s13002-024-00738-0.
The use of wild food ingredients has been inextricably linked to each human culture; therefore, any cultural shift or transformation also mutates the knowledge. Particularly cross-cultural interactions have been playing a significant role in reshaping the knowledge within a given community. The study aimed to cross-culturally research the use of wild food plants among four different ethnolinguistic groups, i.e. Muhajir, Pathans, Punjabi, and Saraiki residing in the peri-urban area of Mianwali district, Punjab Pakistan. Data were taken through semi-structured interviews, and the results of cross-cultural comparison were visualized through Venn diagrams and statistically tested through Jaccard index. A total of 59 plants were recorded, which were used mostly as cooked vegetables (29 species) and snacks (21 species). About one-fourth of the quoted plants were commonly used by all the studied groups. High similarity on the use of the quoted plants was found among Muhajir, Punjabi, and Saraiki. Punjabi reported higher numbers of plants, and Pathans quoted comparatively lesser number. Pathans reported a comparatively high number of idiosyncratic foods uses followed by Muhajir. Punjabi, Muhajir, and Saraiki have a very close affinity and have comparatively rich knowledge after comparing those food uses which were reported by more 50% of participants. Punjabi frequently reported some plant uses which were rarely reported by the other four groups. Additionally a large number of plants were also quoted along with their medicinal uses which were prepared in the same way for both food and medicine. Despite the fact that most of the food ingredients were prepared in a simialr way but still the distinct names of several plants were retained across the studied groups. In the current context, the ethnobotanies of the studied communities are a blend as they might have learned the knowledge on the use of these plants from one another. It is concluded that since the knowledge is still in the memory of the people and has no serious threat to its extinction at hand, however it is necessary to frame policy programs in order to use this knowledge for the sustainability of future food and medical system otherwise it may be lost.
野生食物成分的使用与每一种人类文化都紧密相连；因此，任何文化的转变或转型都会改变相关知识。特别是跨文化的互动在重塑特定社区内的知识方面发挥了重要作用。本研究旨在跨文化研究居住在巴基斯坦旁遮普省米亚瓦里地区城郊的四个不同民族语言群体（即穆哈吉尔人、普什图人、旁遮普人和信德人）对野生食用植物的使用。通过半结构化访谈收集数据，通过 Venn 图和杰卡德指数对跨文化比较的结果进行可视化和统计检验。共记录了 59 种植物，主要用作熟食蔬菜（29 种）和小吃（21 种）。被引用的植物中有四分之一左右被所有研究群体共同使用。穆哈吉尔人、旁遮普人和信德人在引用植物的使用上具有很高的相似性。旁遮普人报告的植物数量较多，而普什图人则相对较少。普什图人报告了相对较多的特殊食物用途，其次是穆哈吉尔人。旁遮普人、穆哈吉尔人和信德人非常亲近，在比较了那些被 50%以上参与者报告的食物用途后，他们的知识相对丰富。旁遮普人经常报告一些其他四个群体很少报告的植物用途。此外，还引用了大量植物及其药用用途，这些植物的药用和食用方法相同。尽管大多数食物成分的制备方式相似，但在研究群体中仍保留了几种植物的独特名称。在当前的背景下，研究社区的民族植物学是一种融合，因为他们可能是从彼此那里学到了这些植物用途的知识。研究结论认为，由于这些知识仍然存在于人们的记忆中，目前还没有对其灭绝构成严重威胁，但有必要制定政策方案，以便在未来的食品和医疗体系中利用这些知识的可持续性，否则这些知识可能会丢失。
