Past Events
May Chapter Meeting - San Diego Biodiversity.
Marisela Chávez, the Indigenous Food Systems and Food Sovereignty Advisor for University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR), spoke to our chapter about the topic of food sovereignty: a people’s ability to decide what their food system should be.
She discussed several examples of local edible plants, including the acorns of native California Black Oak and Coastal Live Oaks, the pads and fruit of Prickly Pear cactus, seeds and flowers of California Chia and Yucca, and beverages made from Elderberry and Manzanita, as well as the special processing required to make some of these edible and delicious.
She also talked about the somewhat controversial topic of fire stewardship, controlled burns that allow the underbrush to be cleared and the way paved for plants that only grow after fires.
She left us with two book recommendations for future study: Kumeyaay Ethnobotany and Tending the Wild.
