Urban Foraging: A Ubiquitous Human Practice Overlooked by Urban Planners, Policy, and Research

Heavy metal contamination (Cu, Pb, and Cd) of washed and unwashed roadside blackberries (Rubus fruticose L.)

Foraging provides a multitude of individual, social, and environmental benefits. With green spaces decreasing in the United Kingdom, there is an opportunity for roadside verges to become valuable foraging resources; however, there is public concern over the safety of roadside forage. Human ingestion of heavy metal contaminants, such as copper (Cu), lead (Pb), and cadmium (Cd), originating from traffic activity, induces toxic effects in the body. Therefore, maximum Cu, Pb, and Cd guideline limits for human consumption in small fruits were established. However, studies of heavy metal concentrations in roadside forage and the effects of surface washing on concentrations are limited. This study examined Cu, Pb, and Cd in washed and unwashed wild blackberries (Rubus fruticose L.) along a main road in Kent, UK, and compares the values with maximum guideline limits. In all 44 samples, Cu, Pb and Cd concentrations were well below the maximum guideline limit or daily reference intake (RI) value. Cu and Pb concentrations were below the maximum daily intake in every sample if foragers eat one portion (80 g) of berries a day, but consuming a larger quantity of berries per day (e.g., 1 kg) could lead to an intake above the guideline limit for Cu (1 mg) and Pb (0.1 mg), but not Cd (0.03 mg). Washing did not significantly reduce the concentrations of Cu (p = 0.174) or Cd (p = 0.752) in blackberries, but did significantly reduce the Pb concentration (p < 0.001). However, Pb concentration was below maximum guideline limits for every sample regardless of washing treatment. Thus, wild blackberries collected from the roadside were suitable for human consumption, although the findings are not representative of all foraged berries or road networks. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2024;00:1-9. © 2024 The Author(s). Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

Foraging Wild Edibles: Dietary Diversity in Expanded Food Systems

Human food foraging in community forests offers extensive and expandable sources of food and high-quality nutrition that support chronic disease prevention and management and are underrepresented in US diets. Despite severe gaps in non-commercial "wild food" data, research in Syracuse, NY, identified substantial amounts of five key antioxidant phytochemicals in locally available, forageable foods with the potential to augment local dietary diversity and quality. Findings endorse the need for micro- and macro-nutrient research on an expanded range of forageable foods, community nutrition education on those foods, an expanded study on antioxidant phytochemical function, and the inclusion of forageables in the food system definition.

Forage and You Shall Find: Cardiac Glycoside Poisoning and the Danger of Foraging

Amateur foraging, which can be described as the gathering of uncultivated plants for sustenance or recreation, supports many benefits for the forager and the environment; however, it can also present the hazard of unintentional poisoning. Asclepias syriaca, or common milkweed, is a potentially edible plant that also contains cardioactive steroids akin to digoxin. A 38-year-old female amateur forager boiled and sautéed 8-10 milkweed pods before ingesting them. She developed vomiting and heart palpitations within 1 hour and presented to an emergency department 3 hours after ingestion. Her exam was within normal limits with exception of heart rate in the 40-50s without hypotension. ECG was notable for sinus bradycardia. Laboratory analysis was notable for a detectable serum digoxin concentration. Life-threatening toxicity did not occur. Recently, some military services have advocated for foraging as a means to sustain far-forward troops. However, misidentification of plants by inexperienced foragers can result in severe toxicity or death. If mass foraging becomes part of expeditionary operations, military clinicians must be trained and prepared for the potentially severe plant-related poisonings.

Urban foraging in Brazilian public greenspaces

Urban foraging, i.e., the gathering of wild edible plants, plays a key role in nature connection within cities. Its integration in planning could contribute to the conservation of urban biodiversity. However, we have little understanding of the interactions between the motivations for and barriers to foraging, and the role of legislation, especially in biodiversity hotspots. Through an online questionnaire and policy review, we explored the practice of urban foraging in Recife, Brazil, across social, spatial and regulatory dimensions. We found that most non-foragers would forage if pollution risks were addressed and knowledge was improved. Foragers collected up to 31 species, none of which are threatened. By integrating the social, spatial and regulatory dimensions of the practice, we highlighted the importance of the local context for targeting foraging incentives. In all, regulation had little impact on where the practice is carried out, and foraging seemed to have little negative impact on biodiversity, as no threatened species were collected and foragers were conscious of their impact. This knowledge can contribute to better integrate the practice of foraging within legislation and develop forager-led greenspace planning and management. In biodiversity hotspots threatened by urban expansion, foraging can contribute to slowing down the biodiversity crisis and improve urban residents' contact with biodiversity.

Exploring Key Factors Driving Urban Foraging Behavior in Garden and Non-Garden Locations

Since the occurrence of COVID-19 and food price inflation, alternative forms of food procurement increased in popularity. The present study is dedicated to urban foraging and aims to explore key factors driving food foraging behavior in the U.S. Two specific foraging behaviors, namely "leaving food behind" or "taking it all", have been investigated in a gardening and non-gardening location. Leaving food behind is crucial to sustainable foraging practices, as it allows plants and ecosystems to recover and promotes fairness in foraging communities. Data was procured from an online consumer survey and analyzed using SmartPLS 4, which allowed the use of partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). PLS-SEM is particularly suitable for complex exploratory studies as it does not require distributional assumptions. Results indicate that nature and food attitudes predict attitudes toward urban foraging. Foraging attitudes, such as food foraging is challenging and food foraging benefits people and the planet, which are the most important drivers for taking or leaving behaviors in both types of locations. These findings are of relevance to managers in municipalities, landscape designers, horticultural businesses, and other stakeholders who create, shape, and govern landscapes used for food foraging.

Urban nature at the fingertips: Investigating wild food foraging to enable nature interactions of urban dwellers

Meaningful human-nature interactions can counteract the extinction of experience and positively influence people's nature relatedness, health and wellbeing. In this study, we explored urban wild food foraging to understand how best to enable human-nature interactions in cities by means of foraging. Using a structured questionnaire, a total of 458 residents of Vienna, Austria were surveyed. Sixty-four percent of visitors of public urban green spaces previously foraged for wild food species, whereas foraging frequencies were related to the targeted plant species and their life forms. People who foraged more frequently had greater nature relatedness, more childhood foraging experiences and lived on the outskirts of the city, but their socio-demographic backgrounds were heterogeneous. Social acceptance and lack of access to wild foods were perceived to be barriers. To promote nature relatedness through urban foraging, the legal framework, access to low-contamination foraging areas, availability of wild foods and social acceptance need to be improved.

A review of empirical studies of cultural ecosystem services in urban green infrastructure

Urban green infrastructure (UGI) has gained increasing attention for its potential to provide numerous benefits. Cultural ecosystem services (CES) refers to those non-materials benefits that play an important role in improving the quality of human life and environmental sustainability. However, to date, a comprehensive study on status quo of CES generated by UGI is limited, especially evaluation methods and indicators specific for UGI. In this study, we reviewed 67 empirical studies on this topic in order to identify: the geographic distribution of research; the UGI types that supply CES; the addressed CES subcategories; the effective methods and indicators for assessing CES; and the challenges and directions for future CES and UGI research. The results revealed that: (1) the majority of the studies were more focused on certain specific UGI types, such as parks, waters, and gardens, while studies that consider UGI as a network are lacking; (2) the studies tend to focus on recreation and ecotourism, followed by aesthetic values, educational values, and cultural heritage values; (3) they employed various methods and their authors tended to combine different methods in evaluation; and (4) various indicators were developed to assess CES in UGI. Based on those findings, we recommend: (1) examining more UGI types and particulars on the UGI network; (2) taking into account all services during evaluation; (3) developing more methods for evaluating CES to address specific UGI situations, especially when dealing with the evaluation boundary and the relationships between CES; and (4) focusing more on increasing the quantity and quality of indicators, which need to communicate UGI characteristics clearly without ambiguity.

Translating land justice through comparison: a US-French dialogue and research agenda

In this discussion piece, eight scholars in geography, urban planning, and agri-food studies from the United States (US) and France engage in a bi-national comparison to deepen our collective understanding of food and land justice. We specifically contextualize land justice as a critical component of food justice in both the US and France in three key areas: access to land for cultivation, urban agriculture, and non-agricultural forms of food provisioning. The US and France are interesting cases to compare, considering the differences and similarities in their colonial and agricultural histories, persistent and systemic race and class-based inequities in land access, and the roles of public bodies and social movements. In this paper, we synthesize literature, share reflections, and offer directions for future scholarship, including a broader comparative research agenda. An important difference we found is in the degree of scholarly attention to race and how it mediates access to land. We also observe that few scholars articulate a clear definition of justice in their work, nor do they share a common justice framework. We hope that this paper contributes to a more robust food and land justice framework for the use of scholars, practitioners and activists.

Rediscovering the Contributions of Forests and Trees to Transition Global Food Systems

The importance of forests to safeguard agricultural production through regulating ecosystem services such as clean water, soil protection, and climate regulation is well documented, yet the contributions of forests and trees to provide food for the nutritional needs of the increasing human population has not been fully realized. Plants, fungi, and animals harvested from forests have long provided multiple benefits—for nutrition, health, income, and cultural purposes. Across the globe, the main element of “forest management” has been industrial wood production. Sourcing food from forests has been not even an afterthought but a subordinate activity that just happens and is largely invisible in official statistics. For many people, forests ensure a secure supply of essential foods and vital nutrients. For others, foraging forests for food offers cultural, recreational, and diversified culinary benefits. Increasingly, these products are perceived by consumers as being more “natural” and healthier than food from agricultural production. Forest-and wild-sourced products increasingly are being used as key ingredients in multiple billion dollar industries due to rising demand for “natural” food production. Consumer trends demonstrate growing interests in forest food gathering that involves biological processes and new forms of culturally embedded interactions with the natural world. Further, intensifying calls to “re-orient” agricultural production provides opportunities to expand the roles of forests in food production; to reset food systems by integrating forests and trees. We use examples of various plants, such as baobab, to explore ways forests and trees provide for food security and nutrition and illustrate elements of a framework to encourage integration of forests and trees. Forests and trees provide innovative opportunities and technological and logistical challenges to expand food systems and transition to a bioeconomy. This shift is essential to meet the expanding demand for secure and nutritious food, while conserving forest biodiversity.

Born to Eat Wild: An Integrated Conservation Approach to Secure Wild Food Plants for Food Security and Nutrition

Overlooked in national reports and in conservation programs, wild food plants (WFPs) have been a vital component of food and nutrition security for centuries. Recently, several countries have reported on the widespread and regular consumption of WFPs, particularly by rural and indigenous communities but also in urban contexts. They are reported as critical for livelihood resilience and for providing essential micronutrients to people enduring food shortages or other emergency situations. However, threats derived from changes in land use and climate, overexploitation and urbanization are reducing the availability of these biological resources in the wild and contributing to the loss of traditional knowledge associated with their use. Meanwhile, few policy measures are in place explicitly targeting their conservation and sustainable use. This can be partially attributed to a lack of scientific evidence and awareness among policymakers and relevant stakeholders of the untapped potential of WFPs, accompanied by market and non-market barriers limiting their use. This paper reviews recent efforts being undertaken in several countries to build evidence of the importance of WFPs, while providing examples of cross-sectoral cooperation and multi-stakeholder approaches that are contributing to advance their conservation and sustainable use. An integrated conservation approach is proposed contributing to secure their availability for future generations.

Residents' awareness of the role of informal green spaces in a post-industrial city, with a focus on regulating services and urban adaptation potential

Urban green spaces (UGS) and the ecosystem services they provide are essential for the health and wellbeing of city dwellers. UGS are increasingly seen as a potential solution for sustainable urban planning and development. Informal green spaces (IGS), even though they may make up a large share of UGS, are often overlooked in this regard. This study examines residents' awareness of the ecosystem services provided by IGS and their need for redevelopment. The data were collected through structured interviews in the immediate vicinity of selected IGS in the Polish city of Łódź. Łódź is typical of post-industrial European cities struggling with environmental (heatwaves, cloudbursts), social (aging, depopulation) and spatial (a neglected and dense city center) issues. Our results show that residents saw IGS as places able to provide a range of services, mostly of the regulating type, and even minor design interventions can improve the attractiveness of IGS. Taking this into account, we conclude that IGS are important vegetated areas in the city, which can be complementary to formal greenery.

Urban foraging: Land management policy, perspectives, and potential

Gathering of uncultivated food from green spaces, also known as foraging, is observed in urban areas across the world, but the literature focuses predominantly on the global north. Our study examines the existing urban land management structure and its approach to urban foraging in the eastern coastal region of South Africa. Through interviews with municipal officials in nine cities, we identified different stakeholders and their roles in urban green space management. We then used network analysis to represent interactions and influence of these stakeholders, and environmental worldviews to determine organisational and perceptual barriers to and enablers of foraging in urban green spaces. The policy on urban green space management, as well as land managers themselves are amenable to the concept of foraging in public spaces. Lack of knowledge on wild indigenous species and sustainable offtake, ambiguous, coarse, or lacking policy, and normative views of pristine nature may hinder foraging. We recommend pathways for policy and stakeholder partnerships to incorporate sustainable foraging in their biodiversity conservation and land stewardship strategies.

Estimating food production in an urban landscape

There is increasing interest in urban food production for reasons of food security, environmental sustainability, social and health benefits. In developed nations urban food growing is largely informal and localised, in gardens, allotments and public spaces, but we know little about the magnitude of this production. Here we couple own-grown crop yield data with garden and allotment areal surveys and urban fruit tree occurrence to provide one of the first estimates for current and potential food production in a UK urban setting. Current production is estimated to be sufficient to supply the urban population with fruit and vegetables for about 30 days per year, while the most optimistic model results suggest that existing land cultivated for food could supply over half of the annual demand. Our findings provide a baseline for current production whilst highlighting the potential for change under the scaling up of cultivation on existing land.

Foraging Wild Food in Urban Spaces: The Contribution of Wild Foods to Urban Dietary Diversity in South Africa

Globally, approximately one billion people benefit from contributions of wild foods to their food security and dietary diversity. Wild foods are known to be important in rural communities in terms of food and micronutrient provision, diversifying diets, reducing vulnerability to non-communicable diseases and overall health. However, the potential contribution of wild foods towards food security and dietary diversity in urban food systems has been largely overlooked. This study examined the contribution of wild foods to household dietary diversity in two towns in South Africa, based on a survey of 137 households. Household diets were quite diverse, with half (51%) having consumed ≥ 8 food groups, 39% consumed 6 or 7 food groups, and only 10% recorded ≤ 5 food groups in the previous 48 h. Wild foods were prevalent across the sample, with 62% of the households consuming them to some degree. Wild vegetables and fruits were the most common wild foods, consumed by 96 and 79% of the households, respectively. Although wild foods had limited significance on overall dietary diversity, they exhibited substantial contributions within particular food groups. For example, the consumption of vegetables and oil and fats was most prevalent among households consuming wild foods than those who did not. The findings show that wild foods could contribute towards diversifying urban diets at a micro-level, within particular food groups consumed, such as vegetables and fruits. Hence, wild foods are important in ameliorating the monotonous diets of some households and in turn promoting dietary diversity.

Wild Edible Fruits: A Systematic Review of an Under-Researched Multifunctional NTFP (Non-Timber Forest Product)

Wild edible fruits (WEFs) are among the most widely used non-timber forest products (NTFPs), and important sources of nutrition, medicine, and income for their users. In addition to their use as food, WEF species may also yield fiber, fuel, and a range of processed products. Besides forests, WEF species also thrive in diverse environments, such as agroforestry and urban landscapes, deserts, fallows, natural lands, and plantations. Given the multifunctional, ubiquitous nature of WEFs, we conducted a systematic review on the literature specific to WEFs and highlighted links between different domains of the wider knowledge on NTFPs. We found that literature specific to WEFs was limited, and a majority of it reported ethnobotanical and taxonomic descriptions, with relatively few studies on landscape ecology, economics, and conservation of WEFs. Our review identifies priorities and emerging avenues for research and policymaking to promote sustainable WEF management and use, and subsequent biodiversity and habitat conservation. In particular, we recommend that ecosystem services, economic incentives, market innovations, and stakeholder synergies are incorporated into WEF conservation strategies.

Does Urban Agriculture Improve Food Security? Examining the Nexus of Food Access and Distribution of Urban Produced Foods in the United States: A Systematic Review

The aim of our review is to critically analyze the urban agriculture and urban food systems literature in order to understand the impact of urban-produced foods on community food security. We examine the role of city planning, food policy, and civic engagement in creating spaces for urban agriculture in cities across the United States, and whether (and how) these spaces promote food justice and food security. Bringing together multidisciplinary literature on access to urban agriculture and the distribution of urban-produced foods in a thematic, systematic review, we point out gaps in the academic research that would benefit from further study. The review integrates academic literature generated from Web of Science searches with gray literature identified through Google Alerts. We find that while there is a strong focus on elucidating the multiple benefits of urban agriculture, there are few studies that robustly measure the impact of urban farms on improving food security in low-income communities. Much of the literature is theoretical, focused on the production potential of urban agriculture, while more work is needed to understand and overcome barriers to access and distribution among communities in need. We conclude with a set of recommendations for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers who seek to create spaces in cities for food justice, equity, access, and sovereignty.

Knowledge, use, and disuse of unconventional food plants

BACKGROUND

People's diets are usually restricted to a small number of plant species, even in regions with great diversity. We investigated the knowledge of residents in Ribeirão da Ilha, a district of Florianópolis (Santa Catarina, Brazil), about unconventional food plants (UFP). We report the UFP of the region, the parts used, the methods of processing, and the reasons for reduced use or even lack of use.

METHODS

From June 2014 to January 2015, we interviewed 26 long-established residents and made free listings of plant resources in the region. We also did three guided tours, and 24 residents (among the 26) checked pictures of the mentioned plants in order to identify them.

RESULTS

We identified 63 species distributed in 25 botanical families. Half of the species were mentioned only by one informant. The fruit was the most frequently used part (80% of citations), consumed mainly without processing. Among those species, 27% were used exclusively in the past. The residents attributed non-use to the difficulty in locating the plants and loss of interest in the resource.

CONCLUSION

Urbanization and environmental restrictions contribute to the difficulty of access to UFP. Encouraging residents to continue using UFP is necessary to perpetuate this threatened knowledge, promote a more diversified and healthier diet, stimulate a greater interaction among people and nature, and promote on farm conservation of edible plants.