THE ARK OF TASTE IN FOOD , KNOWLEDGE , AND STORIES OF GASTRONOMIC HERITAGE Edited by Dauro Mattia Zocchi & Michele Filippo Fontefrancesco THE ARK OF TASTE IN FOOD , KNOWLEDGE , AND STORIES OF GASTRONOMIC HERITAGE Slow Food® 4 Edited by Dauro Mattia Zocchi & Michele Filippo Fontefrancesco Supervised by Andrea Pieroni, Paolo Corvo TANZANIA Language editing | Melissa Dawson Layout TASTE Aarón Gómez Figueroa and Paola Sánchez García www.cabezadetoro.com.mx OF ARK All rights reserved Università degli Studi di Scienze Gastronomiche Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, 9 12042 Pollenzo, Bra - Cuneo, Italia www.unisg.it ISBN: 9788890746284 This book has been produced as a part of the SASS project (Sustainable Agri- Food System Strategies), CUP H42F16002450001. The University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo and The Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity thank the Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) for its support and the Slow Food Network in Tanzania for its collaboration. PREFACE 5 Carlo Petrini Founder and President of Slow Food President of the University of Gastronomic Sciences iodiversity is the greatest promise for the future of humankind. Without it, the foundation for human life on the planet is lost, as is the very soil on which civilizations and cultures have been shaped and formed as the result of human Badaptation to the natural environment. Defending, protecting and promoting biodiversity is therefore not simply one among a number of choices, advanced by the intellectuals of conservation or by nostalgic environmentalists: it is, rather, the only viable path forward. It is a moral duty that we, the generation that inhabits this historic moment, must take on for those who will come after us and live on this planet Earth, a planet that, today, we are trampling, hurting, and mistreating. From this point of view, the Ark of Taste, a global project that this book takes up in its Tanzanian context, is an initiative that seeks to create information, knowledge, and awareness about this unique heritage. Through the Ark, not only communities of producers but, dare I say, the whole of civil society, is invited to rediscover and safeguard our agricultural and food heritage, in order to maintain and strengthen our connection to the land that feeds us and will continue to feed us. Biodiversity is a crucial element for every country in the world and its value should never be underestimated. Nevertheless, I personally think it is even more important to keep this in mind when speaking of a continent like Africa and more specifically of a country like Tanzania: a land full of opportunities but whose history is filled with stories of exploitation. By saying this, I would like to draw to your attention to two dramatic challenges that this part of the world faces. The first one is socio-economic and is related to so-called “land grabbing”, the appropriation of big slots of land by foreign multinational companies, in order to grow intensive crops mainly for exportation. This in turn means a reduction of the land that small scale farmers can use to both provide for the needs of their families and also to grow crops that could be sold in the local markets, thus ensuring a source of income. The second major challenge facing us all is environmental: climate change. The two phenomena put together can exacerbate even further the vulnerable living conditions of Tanzanian people, with negative implications on the fulfilment of the right to food, not just at the present time, but also in the years to come. Despite the negative scenario, there is still hope for improvement and this book, in its simplicity, starting from the acknowledgment of the importance of local biodiversity, investigates some possible pathways that could lead to a better future. As an example, I would like to discuss with you the case of traditional leafy vegetables such as mchunga, mgagani, mashonanguo and many others which you will come across while reading this book. Wild leafy vegetables are a fundamental part of the diet of rural communities all over Tanzania, but a lot still needs to be done before they can gain a good reputation. Just so that you can better understand 6 why I am saying this, you should know that people generally refer to these products with the derogatory term “weeds”. But defining them as weeds is profoundly wrong. In actual fact, they are vegetables, and they are beneficial from many points of view: they are highly nutritional, they grow spontaneously with very little or no human intervention, and they are rooted in the lives of the people as part of their culture. I consider all these factors advantageous, and yet they are the same reasons why up to now these species have been relegated to private consumption only, not being considered as valuable enough to be TANZANIA sold elsewhere. It is now time to recognize their worth as a vital and biodiverse source of subsistence for thousands of people, and also extolled for their ability to withstand harsh | external conditions. This, among others, is one of the aims that stand behind this volume of the Ark of Taste: not only cataloguing, but also looking for suitable ways to integrate such products into a local value chain. In fact, preserving biocultural heritage and even finding TASTE sustainable ways that could make it profitable, are a viable and democratic instruments for improving food sovereignty and more generally, the quality of life for small scale farmers. OF We have many responsibilities upon our shoulders and we can not cease taking action. We must contribute to the cause. ARK As global citizens, we should therefore be aware that the gastronomic heritage of a country rests primarily on those people, who, among other things, care for the environment, who keep marginal communities alive, who save soils from erosion, and who protect biological, cultural, and food diversity. As consumers, by deciding to bring biodiversity to our table we can turn into precious allies of the process. The more we consume biodiversity in a sustainable way, the more we transform it into a creative endeavour in order to satisfy our physiological and hedonic needs, the greater the value and the chance for this vast heritage to survive. Taking care of biodiversity takes us toward a more sustainable future, and a sustainable future for Tanzania and for Africa as a whole represents a hope for the future of the entire planet. Indeed, this publication is intended as a tool to promote Tanzania’s biodiversity and make it known to the wider public. Many of the products that you will find in this catalogue are the result of years of work by the Slow Food and Terra Madre networks and later on of extensive fieldwork carried out by the University of Gastronomic Sciences, during which they have met with communities of producers and restaurateurs, collecting stories and testimonies of agricultural and gastronomic knowledge. What you have in your hands is the result of this collective work and it should be understood as an open process that will grow and in which we want to involve anyone interested in safeguarding the food and cultural heritage of this magnificent country. We are at the beginning of a long and fascinating journey of discovery. Great things lie ahead. INTRODUCTION 7 Dauro M. Zocchi, Michele F. Fontefrancesco, & Andrea Pieroni University of Gastronomic Sciences RESCUING TRADITIONAL FOOD In the past decades, we have witnessed worldwide a rising political, cultural, and scientific debate on the role that traditional food and local, agricultural products can play in the future of the food system. In the face of the loss of biocultural diversity and its negative consequences, especially on the livelihoods and wellbeing of small-scale rural communities, traditional foods have become the centre of a growing interest of national and international organisations that are involved in rescuing and promoting this important local resource through national and international initiatives. The Ark of Taste is one of these relevant international initiatives aimed at rescuing, protecting, and promoting local gastronomy. Running since the second half of the 1990s thanks the effort of Slow Food and the University of Gastronomic Sciences, in collaboration with hundreds local associations and communities, the Ark is an online catalogue of foods at risk of disappearing that are part of the traditional gastronomies of the world (more details later in the volume). The project was launched in order to preserve the memories and practices associated with these products, and, in so doing, to support their producers, and, in some cases (such as the case of endangered wild species at risk of extinction), promoting their conservation and reproduction. The Ark of Taste encompasses different products, from fresh to processed foods, which are part of the indigenous gastronomy of over 150 countries. However, the so-called neglected and underutilized species (NUS), also known as orphan crops, have a central place. NUS encompass a diversity of domesticated, semi-domesticated and wild species whose current production and consumption are limited relative to their economic and dietary potential. While these species are still socially and culturally embedded in the rural and indigenous foodscape, they are gradually losing their importance and have been marginalised due to their inability to adapt to the modernisation and industrialisation of the food and agricultural system. Despite these negative trends, these species have been highlighted as an untapped resource for rural development, and their promotion has been considered a tool for improving the food security and food sovereignty of local communities, whilst simultaneously strengthening environmental and social resilience and safeguarding the traditional knowledge and heritage tied to these communities. THE ARK OF TASTE ATLAS 8 Building upon this understanding, this volume presents a selection of 50 traditional products from Tanzania, which encompasses animal breeds, plant species and artisanal processed products.