Could the future of food be rooted in the past?
Recent research demonstrates that indigenous food plants often contain substantially higher micronutrient levels than their conventional counterparts, with some African indigenous vegetables providing up to five times more vitamins and minerals than introduced species (Mabhaudhi et al., 2019). Furthermore, these native plants typically require fewer inputs, demonstrate greater climate resilience through local adaptations, and with improved awareness that increases their use, can support regenerating local biodiversity, making them increasingly recognised as critical components of sustainable food security strategies (Borelli et al., 2020).
This exploratory research bodes well for the collaborative planting trials between Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, the Sustainability Institute and its Local WILD Food Hub, and Grootbos Private Nature Reserve and its Foundation. Their endeavours in discovery represent a significant step toward further exploration of the potential of indigenous edible plants as resilient contributors to food systems of the future.
The field trials will explore the cultivation potential of six wild edible plants of the Greater Cape Floristic Region, many of which have been “forgotten” and are threatened due to urbanisation and property development in their habitats. Through the next year the field trials will systematically test the influence of water and planting density on the yield, nutrition and climate-resilience related traits of the six species.
Above: The field trial at the Sustainability Institute
Above: The field trial at Grootbos
Our global and African context
Global malnutrition affects over 768 million people—with Sub-Saharan Africa experiencing the highest prevalence at 21.8% of its population (FAO et al., 2022). How can reconnecting communities with traditional food sources shift those statistics?
The field trials are led by Dr Nicola Kühn of Kew Gardens and Loubie Rusch at the Local Wild Food Hub (LWFH) which is part of the Sustainability Institute. Under their expert guidance, these trials are contributing to the LWFH vision of normalising the use of local indigenous foods (of the GCFR) to benefit people and their local food environments. The practical implementation of the work is three pronged: KNOW, GROW, USE.
The knowledge already gained has been artfully combined in two books, Cape Wild Foods: A Grower’s Guide and Cape Wild Foods: A Cook’s Guide written by Loubie Rusch who has been exploring the forgotten and underutilised local indigenous foods of the Cape since 2010.
The Cooks Guide is the sequel and culinary compendium to the Growers guide, and shows 22 plants aimed at home and professional cooks, bringing them ingredient information, menu and cooking ideas and recipes to follow about local foods they may be intrigued by, but are not sure how to use in cooking.
The group is also preparing nutritional research for scientific publication. Preliminary results suggest that the edible plants of the GCFR have strong potential to meet nutritional needs, based on existing data (Kühn, Rusch et al. IN PREP) and empirical tests on selected species, including those in the cultivation trials.
Nicola and Loubie’s passion for edibles of the future is rooted in the belief that it is important to include indigenous foods into our local agriculture and on our plates because these plants will enable access to truly local foods and offer resilient alternatives (or additions) to current staple crops that are more nutritious and can grow in regions with poor soil quality and limited access to irrigation.
Above: Loubie Rusch (Left) and Dr Nicola Kühn at work at Grootbos.
There are other benefits as well: sourcing locally or smaller scale crops reduces our climate footprint and can revive, preserve and add to cultural heritage and indigenous knowledge. It is also important to encourage cultivation over unsustainable wild harvesting.
The field trials will measure the above ground dimensions of the plants on a monthly basis and include photographic documentation and information about the development of the plants at both sites. At harvesting intervals yield traits (e.g. above ground biomass, dry vs wet) will be recorded and in a year from now the nutritional traits and other morphological traits related to climate resilience will be assessed.
The 6 plants used in these trials are as follows:
- Dune spinach (Tetragonia decumbens)
- Sea pumpkin (Mesembryanthemum vanrensburgii)
- Sandkool (Trachyandra divaricata)
- Veldkool (Trachyandra ciliata)
- Ice plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum)
- Sea parsley (Dasispermum suffruticosum)
The SI already serves these plants at its Green Cafe which is a focal point for experiencing home grown produce and also responsible for feeding 200 school children and youth every day. These trials will give a more accurate understanding of quantities to plant to produce menus at scale.
Above: The SI team planting the various plants in the food garden.
Grootbos Private Reserve and its team of extraordinary chefs serve an indigenous edibles tasting menu of plants that occur on their Reserve, and can look forward to a regular supply reaching their lodge kitchens and patrons from their farm.
To say these foods can only be experienced through tasting is true. The youngest to savour the delights of sea pumpkin in our group was under 2 years old and he simply asked for ‘more’.
This groundbreaking partnership brings together Kew Gardens’ botanical expertise, the Sustainability Institute’s community-based implementation models, and Grootbos Foundation’s conservation leadership to systematically evaluate the cultivation potential, nutritional profiles, and cultural reintegration of indigenous edible species adapted to South Africa’s unique ecological conditions.
For more information about the field trials you can contact:
Dr Nicola Kühn, Research Fellow, RBG Kew email n.kuhn@kew.org
Loubie Rusch – Local WildFood Hub localwild@sustainabilityinstitute.net | www.sustainabilityinstitute.net
Grootbos Foundation: Conservation Director – Sean Privet https://grootbosfoundation.org/
References:
FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO. (2022). The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022. Repurposing food and agricultural policies to make healthy diets more affordable. Rome, FAO.
Mabhaudhi, T., Chimonyo, V.G.P., Chibarabada, T.P. et al. (2019). Mainstreaming Underutilized Indigenous and Traditional Crops into Food Systems: A South African Perspective. Sustainability, 11(1), 172.
Borelli, T., Hunter, D., Powell, B., Ulian, T., Mattana, E., Termote, C., et al. (2020). Born to Eat Wild: An Integrated Conservation Approach to Secure Wild Food Plants for Food Security and Nutrition. Plants, 9(10), 1299.
Notes: This is a RBG, Kew funded project in collaboration with, and with staff time contribution of, the Sustainability Institute, and Grootbos Foundation.