Foraged and wild foods tell many “quiet and hidden” stories; they can tell us about the web of relations in which we find them, the history of ancestors who tended to them, and the state of our own cravings and desires. In this week’s episode of For The Wild, we are joined by Gina Rae La Cerva, who begins by prompting us to think about the ways in which wild foods are a common heritage that connects us to time and place. Gina reminds us that eating is an act of survival, love, and connectivity. But wild and foraged foods of today are also changing dramatically as they’ve become fetishized and commodified. The nuance and complexity of “wild foods” leave us to wonder, how does the wilderness become a luxury? What does a homogenized diet do to us? And how can we rekindle a wild relationship with food amidst the Anthropocene? Gina Rae La Cerva is an award-winning writer, geographer, and environmental anthropologist originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico. She holds degrees from Yale University, The University of Cambridge, and Vassar College. An avid adventurer, La Cerva has researched tsunamis in Indonesia, crossed the Pacific Ocean on a sailboat, and traced the wild meat trade from the forests of the Congo Basin to the streets of Paris. Her first book is Feasting Wild: In Search of the Last Untamed Food. Music by Eliza Edens and Jessica Moore. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.
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