Scouting for Food Heritage for Achieving Sustainable Development: The Methodological Approach of the Atlas of the Ark of Taste

Abstract

Over the last two decades, scholars and organizations across the world have carried out research projects and promoted dissemination tools aimed at promoting food and food-related elements embedded in local and traditional foodways. In this regard, the documentation of food and biocultural heritage has been seen as the starting point of processes directed toward their safeguarding and promotion. Drawing from this premise, the paper presents an original methodological approach, designed within the framework of the Ark of Taste project, to map, inventory, and document food and food-related resources to produce a comprehensive dissemination tool for the promotion of local food and biocultural heritage. To this end, the paper discusses the case study of the Atlas of the Ark of Taste in Tanzania, looking at the approach used, and the challenges faced, in undertaking field and desk activities aimed at inventorying Tanzanian food products and in the creating of the gastronomic atlas of this country. Drawing from this experience, the paper highlights the potentially crucial role that food and gastronomic inventories may have in achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals from a grassroots perspective. Acknowledging the limitations and possible unintended effects of these initiatives on the protection of food and biocultural resources, the authors recognize the promising role that these tools could have in fostering the achievement of environmental (SDGs 13, 14, 15) and social sustainability (SDGs 1, 2, 3, 10) objectives.