The Language of Wild Food Collection: Verbs and Their Implications to Forest Knowledge 13 7

Abstract

This is a paper adapted from a talk given at the 
Equinox 2024: The 4th Annual International 
Conference1.  Much of what I spoke about is from 
my own experience of living and working among the 
Durwa people in Central India, in the Bastar district 
of Chhattisgarh. 
The key point here is ‘wild forest food’ and I use the 
term to mean foods that are not cultivated, but 
harvested from the wild. The ‘wild’ can therefore be 
the forest, open scrublands, fallows and field bunds, 
swamps and wetlands, rocky places, in high altitudes 
and even in deserts landscapes. The foods I refer to 
are harvested, processed, cooked or stored (for later 
use) directly from the wild.