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Urban foraging represents an understudied yet vital practice linking traditional ecological knowledge with contemporary food security challenges in rapidly urbanizing India. This comprehensive ethnographic study documents foraging practices and the species across 15 Indian cities spanning diverse biogeographic zones from the Himalayan foothills to coastal plains. Through focussed discussions and personal interviews with 97 foragers, transect walks, we identified 130 plant species and 16 fungal species that were preferred and foraged from urban green spaces. The practice showed remarkable taxonomic diversity (63 families, 113 genera) with Fabaceae dominating, followed by Malvaceae and Cucurbitaceae. Women constituted 68.75% of foragers, reflecting gendered dimensions to urban foraging and also being custodians of traditional knowledge systems; 71% reported loss of intergenerational connect and 83% reported the disinterest of next generation in foraging. Foraging motivations varied from subsistence needs among urban poor to health-conscious choices among middle and upper-middle-class practitioners. Challenges included increasing pollution, shrinking green spaces, and phenological shifts. Our study underscores and highlights these threats to urban foraging. Conversely, increasing middle-class interest, driven by nutritional awareness and cultural reconnection, suggests emerging avenues for integrating foraging within contemporary urban lifestyles. Our findings endorse the need of acknowledging the relevance of urban foraging that can improve awareness and relevance of urban green spaces not just for their regulating and supporting benefits but also for cultural benefits. Urban foraging with its silent approach helps localize SDGs by protecting small patches of neighbourhood urban green spaces (SDG 15), household-level food security (SDG 2), and supporting sustainable cities (SDG 11). We attempt to understand the relevance and emerging concerns of foraging in urban areas and what makes them so relevant for people and their neighbourhood across different cities of India.

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Foraging of Wild Edibles in Fast Urbanizing India: From Traditional Knowledge Systems to People’s Connect with the Urban Greenspaces

  • 章节

  • 发表日期：

    2026年

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  • N. Manika,
  • S. Saraniya,
  • Shalini Dhyani

摘要

Urban foraging represents an understudied yet vital practice linking traditional ecological knowledge with contemporary food security challenges in rapidly urbanizing India. This comprehensive ethnographic study documents foraging practices and the species across 15 Indian cities spanning diverse biogeographic zones from the Himalayan foothills to coastal plains. Through focussed discussions and personal interviews with 97 foragers, transect walks, we identified 130 plant species and 16 fungal species that were preferred and foraged from urban green spaces. The practice showed remarkable taxonomic diversity (63 families, 113 genera) with Fabaceae dominating, followed by Malvaceae and Cucurbitaceae. Women constituted 68.75% of foragers, reflecting gendered dimensions to urban foraging and also being custodians of traditional knowledge systems; 71% reported loss of intergenerational connect and 83% reported the disinterest of next generation in foraging. Foraging motivations varied from subsistence needs among urban poor to health-conscious choices among middle and upper-middle-class practitioners. Challenges included increasing pollution, shrinking green spaces, and phenological shifts. Our study underscores and highlights these threats to urban foraging. Conversely, increasing middle-class interest, driven by nutritional awareness and cultural reconnection, suggests emerging avenues for integrating foraging within contemporary urban lifestyles. Our findings endorse the need of acknowledging the relevance of urban foraging that can improve awareness and relevance of urban green spaces not just for their regulating and supporting benefits but also for cultural benefits. Urban foraging with its silent approach helps localize SDGs by protecting small patches of neighbourhood urban green spaces (SDG 15), household-level food security (SDG 2), and supporting sustainable cities (SDG 11). We attempt to understand the relevance and emerging concerns of foraging in urban areas and what makes them so relevant for people and their neighbourhood across different cities of India.