Adapting food environment frameworks to recognize a wild-cultivated continuum

Area of Science:

• Environmental Health
• Nutritional Science
• Sociology

Background:

• Food environments, the interface between consumers and food systems, are crucial for understanding global dietary changes.
• Recent food environment frameworks increasingly incorporate nature-dependent societies in lower- and middle-income countries.
• Existing typologies often dichotomize 'wild' and 'cultivated' food environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To challenge the dichotomous view of wild and cultivated food environments.
• To propose a more nuanced understanding of natural food environments as a continuum.
• To apply an adapted typology to Indigenous Pgaz K'Nyau food environments in Thailand.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a transdisciplinary approach, integrating diverse perspectives.
• Adapted a food environment typology to include a continuum of human management.
• Applied the adapted typology to a case study in San Din Daeng village, Thailand.
• Collected data using the Thailand-adapted Diet Quality Questionnaire with additional food source questions.

Main Results:

• Wild-cultivated food environments were identified as a continuum, not a dichotomy.
• Local participants classified food environments along this wild-to-cultivated spectrum.
• This continuum provided the source for 37% of reported food items, more than any other environment type.
• The findings highlight the significance of understanding natural food environments holistically.

Conclusions:

• Natural food environments exist along a spectrum from wild to cultivated, influenced by human management.
• The Indigenous Pgaz K'Nyau case study underscores the importance of this continuum for food security.
• Future food environment research should adopt a nuanced, continuum-based approach.