| dc.description.abstract | am firmly convinced that our most urgent task is to protect biodiversity
as the foundation of our food system. Many local crop varieties are dis-
appearing and the widespread use of chemicals in agriculture threatens
countless species with extinction. The global food system today is in a
more precarious position than ever before due to the intertwined threats of
food price inflation, food insecurity resulting from conflicts in many parts of the
world, and climate change. These shocks and crises are major alarm bells that
signal the fragility of our food systems, and there is no single action more pow-
erful than making people aware of the importance of protecting food biodiver-
sity. Without biodiversity, there is no foundation for human life on this planet.
Biodiversity is the raw material that nourishes our civilizations and cultures and
it is essential for human adaptation to Earth’s varied environments.
Biodiversity is crucial for every country in the world and its value should never
be underestimated. I believe it is especially important to keep this in mind
when considering the African context. The people of Africa have long endured
unjust seed policies, land grabbing, and the adverse effects of chemicals that
are needed to sustain the daily expansion of monocultures. These practices
are perpetuated with the promise of feeding the continent’s rapidly growing
population; what they’re actually doing is making African food systems less
resilient. Biodiversity in food and agriculture is declining, the climate crisis is
intensifying, and diet-related diseases are reaching epidemic proportions. We
urgently need to break away from imperialistic and extractive production sys-
tems to slow down climate change and environmental degradation, and the
only way to accomplish this is by preserving biodiversity.
The Ark of Taste is the world’s largest living catalogue of biodiverse, delicious,
and distinctive gastronomic heritage at risk of extinction. The Atlas you hold in
your hands expands on the first edition of The Ark of Taste in Kenya, published in
2018. This new edition is a comprehensive tool for understanding Kenya’s tradi-
tional foodscapes and it reiterates the central roles that institutions, producers,
and consumers all play in preserving Kenya’s food cultures and biodiversity. I
would like to draw your attention to one aspect of this book in particular that I
think is fundamental: its ability to actively engage, involve, and empower new
generations of professionals in the Kenyan food system. The project that led
to the creation of this expanded edition was developed and executed entirely
by researchers from the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy and the
Universities of Egerton, Embu, and Nairobi in Kenya. Fifty students from the
three Kenyan universities were taught to identify, describe, and communicate
about local food heritage following the Ark of Taste approach, and Kenyan
researchers contributed new chapters focused on creating awareness among
the general public about the importance of this heritage. This collective, co-
operative work enabled us to expand the data set on Kenyan traditional food
biodiversity to include products that Western knowledge alone wouldn’t have
been able to identify.
The products described in this book represent the tangible and intangible
knowledge and skills of multitudes of people who, despite difficulties and with
great passion, labor every day to grow and safeguard the biodiversity on which
we all depend. The gastronomic heritage of every country rests primarily on
the shoulders of these people, who care for the environment, keep marginal
communities thriving, save soils from erosion, and protect biological, cultural,
and food diversity. As consumers, we can choose to incorporate biodiversity
into our diets, becoming valuable allies in its preservation. We have the simple
but profound power act with care and respect toward the people who cultivate
biodiversity, contributing to their wellbeing as well as to our own health and
the health of our planet. By sustainably consuming diverse foods and embrac-
ing eating as a creative act that simultaneously meets our physiological needs
and brings us great pleasure, we can ensure the survival of the extensive and
valuable heritage that this book celebrates. | en_US |
