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Ethnobiology for a Diverse World: Microbial Ethnobiology andthe Loss of Distinctive Food CulturesAuthor(s): Gary Paul NabhanSource: Journal of Ethnobiology, 30(2):181-183. 2010.Published By: Society of EthnobiologyDOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2993/0278-0771-30.2.181URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.2993/0278-0771-30.2.181

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ETHNOBIOLOGY FOR A DIVERSE WORLD

MICROBIAL ETHNOBIOLOGY AND THE LOSS OFDISTINCTIVE FOOD CULTURES

Gary Paul Nabhan

While attending a conference on the conservation of biological diversity afew years back, a senior microbiologist noticed that my name tag identified me asan ethnobiologist.

‘‘I assume that you study land races of cultivated plants or rare breeds oflivestock, am I correct?’’

‘‘Yes, at least sometimes,’’ I answered timidly. ‘‘And their relationships withparticular cultures in specific places,’’ I added as a meager clarification.

‘‘Well, that’s a pity, because the microbial world is where the realbiodiversity lies…. And I don’t think folk cultures have much to say aboutmicrobes, do they? Since they can’t see them, they don’t name them, do they?’’

The assumption was that microbiology was one realm where Western scienceclearly had a leg up on so-called indigenous science. Its technological tools, fromscanning electron microscopes to rDNA sequencers, suggest that there are at least4 3 1030 microscopic prokaryotic cells on the face of the earth. Gene banks havealready begun to cultivate some 30,000 distinctive taxa of bacteria and archaea(Weinbauer and Rassoulzadegan 2007), roughly the same order of magnitude asthe total number of cultivated plant species on earth (est. 35,000 vascular plantspecies, including landscape plants, see Khoshbackht and Hammer 2008). In asingle water sample taken from the Sargasso Sea, a recent ‘‘shotgun approach’’ tomicrobial gene sequencing newly identified 1.2 million genes and 1800 species(Venter et al. 2004).

But the microbiologist’s assumption disregarded the fact that mosttraditional cooks, vintners, picklers, brewers, bakers and cheese-makers aroundthe world differentiate by taste, smell, sight and other evidence the minutedifferences that exist among tens of thousands of microbially-fermented foodproducts. Fungi, molds, yeasts and bacteria have been selected and domesticatedto assist in the fermentation of human foods. In the case of Korean kimchis,hundreds of species of Lactobacillus, Leueconostoc, Sachromyces and Streptococcusmay be involved in giving a particular pickled vegetable its distinctive signatureof flavors and fragrances (Scott and Sullivan 2008). While traditional managers offermentation do not necessarily name the microorganisms themselves, they doname and describe in considerable detail the preparation and organolepticqualities of the derived fermented food products (Katz 2003).

Since the earliest collaborations of ethnobiologists with archaeologists,nutritionists and geneticists, pioneering ethnobotanists such as Robert Braid-

Journal of Ethnobiology 30(2): 181–183 Fall/Winter 2010

wood and Jonathan Sauer have attempted to link plant domestication and the useof pottery vessels with the fermentation of grains into alcoholic beverages(Kavanagh 1994). More recently, ethnobiologists Robert Bye, Jr., Daniel Zizumbo-Villareal, Will McLatchey, among others, have advanced ethnobiologicalmethods to explore prehistoric, historic and contemporary fermented anddistilled beverages in relation to the human and microbial cultures which havenurtured them. It has now been confirmed by collaborations of archaeologists,chemists and ethnobiologists that fermented beverages were consumed in Chinaas early as 9000 years ago (McGovern et al. 2004). And yet, few scientists haveexplicitly specialized in microbial ethnobiology; nevertheless, the emergence ofsuch a sub-discipline seems to be looming before us. Sandor Katz’s (2003)astonishingly rich ‘‘ethnography of live-culture foods’’ from around the worldoffers young ethnobiologists a point of departure for learning more about thesefoods among a variety of traditional cultures, as does Ken Albala’s (2010) book,The Lost Art of Real Cooking, and his Cult of Pre-Pasteurian Preservation recentlyfeatured on Facebook. Fermented, smoked and cured foods were recentlyfeatured at the 2010 Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. It may be arrivingjust in time, for microbiologists are now deeply concerned with the real andpresumed losses of microbial diversity (Staley 1997; Weinbauer and Rassoulza-degan 2007). Famed food writer Harold McGee (2004) – who takes a science-based approach to food chemistry and preparation – has expressed concern thatover a dozen different microbial taxa once involved in the fermentation ofyoghurt-like milk cultures may have already disappeared. The reasons for theirdemise are varied, including the indiscriminate use of antibiotics, anti-bacterialsoaps, the narrow temperature range of keeping fermented foods underrefrigeration, and the rise of super-sterile foods. This concern has been validatedby Spanish microbiologist Jose Garabal (2007:2):

Although protection of the world’s biodiversity is currently a topic ofparticular concern, little attention has been given to the preservation ofmicroorganisms and how this is related to the survival of traditional orautochthonous products….there is increasing risk of loss of diversity inraw-milk microbiota and [as a result] the quality of traditional fermentedproducts is seriously threatened.

Ironically, Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in the world, appears to be aleader in ethnobiological conservation of such fermented food cultures. On arecent visit to Addis Ababa, I learned that the National Institute of BiodiversityConservation currently maintains more than 400 microbial cultures collectedfrom peasant kitchens across the country (Nabhan 2008).

Perhaps the most worrisome warning about the potential loss of microbialdiversity comes not from the Sargasso Sea or an Ethiopian kitchen, but from acomparison of gut microbiota of children from urbanized parts of Europe and aremote rural village in Burkina Faso, Africa. Due to a number of factors,including the excessive use of antibiotics in Europe, certain elements of gutmicrobiota commonly found in children living in rural communities of Africawere completely lacking in samples from children living in Europe (DeFilippo etal. 2010). While such reports must be cautiously evaluated, it is evident that

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ethnobiologists can play key roles in helping future interdisciplinary teams ofscientists contextualize how human cultural and technological change may beaffecting our ‘‘food cultures’’ – those in our fermenting vats, sourdough starters,vinegar mothers and our very own guts.

References Cited

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Group, New York.DeFilippo, C., D. Cavalieri, M. Di Paola, M.Ramazzotti, J.B. Poullet, S. Massart, S. Collini,G. Pieraccini, and P. Lionetti

2010 Impact of diet in shaping gut micro-biota revealed by a comparative study inchildren from Europe and rural Africa.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

107(33):14691–14696.Garabal, J.I.

2007 Biodiversity and the survival of au-tochthonous fermented products. Interna-

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2003 Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutritionand Craft of Live-Culture Foods. ChelseaGreen Publishing, White River Junction.

Kavanagh, T.W.1994 Archaeological parameters for the

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McGovern, P.E., J. Zhang, J. Tang, Z. Zhang,G.R. Hall, R.A. Moreau, A. Nunez, E.D. Butrym,M.P. Richards, C. Wang, G. Cheng, Z. Zhao, andC. Wang

2004 Fermented beverages of pre- andproto-historic China. Proceedings of the Na-tional Academy of Sciences 101(51):17593–17598.

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