Elogio dell'incolto. Patience Gray e le erbe spontanee edibili

Abstract

In Honey from a Weed. Fasting and Feasting in Tuscany, Catalonia, the Cyclades, and Apulia, Patience Gray explores the close relationship between wild herbs and Mediterranean culinary traditions. The book details Gray's journey across the Mediterranean area, where she studied local food practices, focusing particularly on wild herbs and their role in both nutrition and culture. Gray and her partner, Flemish sculptor Norman Mommens, eventually settled in Salve, a small village in the extreme south of Apulia. There, Gray immersed herself in local botanical and culinary traditions, learning from the locals about the rich biodiversity of the region and how every plant had a function in the kitchen. The book is not just a cookbook; it is also a memoir and a treatise on the connection between people, plants, and the environment and a personal and intellectual exploration, blending recipes with stories, and emphasizing the importance of preserving knowledge about wild plants and their uses. She aims to preserve this disappearing knowledge and celebrate the traditional, foraged foods of the Mediterranean, presenting wild herbs as symbols of resilience and cultural identity. The study compares also the traditional use of wild herbs in Mediterranean cuisine with contemporary foraging practices, using modern examples like the ethnobotanical cuisine at the Mezza Pagnotta restaurant in Ruvo di Puglia (BAT) and Il Giardino sotto il naso in Lequile (LE), a kind of a small distillery based on weeds.