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Baby Pangolins on My Plate: Possible Lessons to Learn from the COVID-19 Pandemic Gabriele Volpato, Michele F

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Baby Pangolins on My Plate: Possible Lessons to Learn from the COVID-19 Pandemic Gabriele Volpato, Michele F Volpato et al. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (2020) 16:19 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13002-020-00366-4 EDITORIAL Open Access Baby pangolins on my plate: possible lessons to learn from the COVID-19 pandemic Gabriele Volpato, Michele F. Fontefrancesco, Paolo Gruppuso, Dauro M. Zocchi and Andrea Pieroni* Abstract The Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (JEET), throughout its 15 years of existence, has tried to provide a respected outlet for scientific knowledge concerning the inextricable links between human societies and nature, food, and health. Ethnobiology and ethnomedicine-centred research has moved at the (partially artificial and fictitious) interface between nature and culture and has investigated human consumption of wild foods and wild animals, as well as the use of wild animals or their parts for medicinal and other purposes, along with the associated knowledge, skills, practices, and beliefs. Little attention has been paid, however, to the complex interplay of social and cultural reasons behind the increasing pressure on wildlife. The available literature suggest that there are two main drivers that enhance the necessary conditions for infectious diseases to cross the species barrier from wild animals to humans: (1) the encroachment of human activities (e.g., logging, mining, agricultural expansion) into wild areas and forests and consequent ecological disruptions; and, connected to the former, (2) the commodification of wild animals (and natural resources in general) and an expanding demand and market for wild meat and live wild animals, particularly in tropical and sub-tropical areas. In particular, a crucial role may have been played by the bushmeat-euphoria and attached elitist gastronomies and conspicuous consumption phenomena. The COVID-19 pandemic will likely require ethnobiologists to reschedule research agendas and to envision new epistemological trajectories aimed at more effectively mitigating the mismanagement of natural resources that ultimately threats our and other beings’ existence. In memory of Dr. Javier Caballero, Autonomous Univer- from animals (e.g., Spanish flu, Asian flu, AIDS, Nipah, Mar- sity of Mexico and JEET board member, who passed burg, swine flu, SARS, MERS, and Ebola): away 12 March 2020. Why does the intensification of the use of certain animal resources happen in certain places at certain Ethnobiology, gastronomy, and COVID-19 times? The COVID-19 pandemic poses to the scientific community Is this intensification happening in specific areas andtoitsworldwideaudienceimportant open research ques- during a particular period due to commodification tions in ethnobiology and ethnomedicine. Questions that of Traditional/Indigenous/Local Ecological have regularly reappeared during the past century with the Knowledge (TILEK) or to which other socio-cultural spread of the various pathogenic viruses originally derived factors? Is the search for an exclusive, elitist gastronomy “to blame”? * Correspondence: [email protected] University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo, Piazza V. Emanuele II, I-12042 How can we prevent such unsustainable Bra/Pollenzo, Italy intensifications? © The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. Volpato et al. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (2020) 16:19 Page 2 of 12 The Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (JEET), (based on knowledge, practices, rituals) that humans es- throughout its fifteen years of existence, has tried to provide tablish with the other living creatures and with local ecol- a respected outlet for scientific knowledge concerning the ogies, and in terms of the impacts that human activities inextricable links between human societies and nature, have on these ecologies and on other “webs of life.” food, and health. It has specifically covered these relation- Because foods, food systems and food cultures play a ships from an ethno-scientific perspective, thus focusing on key role in the emergence of zoonotic diseases, food the complex systems of TILEK and their transformations studies explored through a truly trans-disciplinary across time and space. gastronomic sciences-centred lens can further help to In the past few decades, ethnobiology and ethnomedicine- understand the processes and dynamics behind the con- centred research has moved at the (partially artificial and fic- sumption of “wild” animals, its commodification, and titious) interface between nature and culture andhastriedto the system of beliefs and values that underpins it. investigate the socio-cultural contexts in which domesticated Here, we briefly discuss the COVID-19 pandemic and “wild” species and their ecosystems are perceived, used, within the broader socio-cultural and gastronomic con- and managed. text in which it originated and occurs now. First, we lay Specifically, JEET has published numerous papers ad- out the main human ecological drivers for increased dressing human consumption of wild foods and wild an- contact between humans and (other) animals and the imals, as well as papers addressing the use of wild potential viral spillover: anthropogenic disturbance of animals or their parts for medicinal and other purposes, forest ecosystems and increasing demand for meat and along with the associated knowledge, skills, practices, medicine derived from wildlife. We further discuss the and beliefs; less attention has been paid, however, to the reasons for the increased demand for bushmeat, both as reasons behind the intensification of the use of certain a response to food insecurity and as a response to a de- natural resources and, especially, to the links between mand for exclusive, elitist consumption. We then ad- their commodification and the emergence of new dis- dress the relations that occur between the eases from wildlife. commodification of wild animals and the traditional sys- Zoonotic diseases constitute about 70% of all known tems of knowledge and practices that have sustained emerging diseases and are Swords of Damocles hanging continuity in wild animal use. Finally, we reflect on the over global public health [1–3]. SARS-CoV-2 is the latest ways in which COVID-19 relates to the Anthropocene of several viruses that have emerged in wildlife, crossed idea, with the processes of intensification and commodi- the species barrier from animals (e.g., bats, civets, pango- fication as underlying common drivers. lins, apes) to humans, mutated, and then spread from human to human. These diseases often have multiple Bats: an exemplary case study animal reservoirs and intermediate hosts as well as com- In order to prefigure these dynamics (and the line of plex transmission pathways, but viral transmission often argument below), we use bats as an example because requires direct or indirect contact between humans and their situation illustrates clearly the complex relation- animals. ships between emerging zoonotic diseases, the intensi- A number of environmental and socio-economic fac- fication and commodification of wild animals, and the tors are increasing contact rates between humans and key role of foods and food systems in this emergence. wildlife: trade in wild animals for food and medicine, en- Bats have been hunted for food and medicine since croachment of humans and domestic animals into wild- pre-historic times in all inhabited continents, especially life habitats, intensification of food systems and changes in the Asia-Pacific region where big fruit bats of the in land use in tropical and subtropical areas, genus Pteropus represent an important food source for globalization of agriculture and commerce, commodifi- some populations as well as an important element of cation of biodiversity and its traditional use, and con- local gastronomy, and are considered a delicacy in sumption of bushmeat [4–6]. many places [7]. The complexities of the ecological, social, and econom- Bat meat is cooked in various ways, such as fried, ical dynamics of disease emergence, therefore, require roasted, stewed, grilled, and stir-fried [8, 9]. Moreover, interdisciplinary approaches, for which ethnobiology and minced meat and whole bats cooked in hot pot (simmer- human ecology are extremely well positioned. Given the ing flavored broth in which raw ingredients are cooked) key role that the dynamics occurring at the interface be- are available in restaurants in Southern China [10]. The tween the “wild” and the “domestic” have in the emer- culinary use of bat meat is also widespread in other gence of zoonotic diseases, ethnosciences need to
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