Editorial: Traditional Food Knowledge: New Wine Into Old Wineskins?

The call for this Research Topic focused on Traditional Food Knowledge (TFK) and its potential for revitalization. Although over the past two decades studies of Traditional Knowledge have greatly increased according to the peer-reviewed literature, these have remained largely focused on ecological, botanical, and medical folk knowledge, while dedicating much less attention to knowledge about animals, foods or rituals. Moreover, while such studies have described mainly the use of biological organisms or systems and their ways of processing, they only have sparingly addressed their associated sociocultural values. Also, in the domain of TFK, field studies have unevenly looked at the processes through which TFK can be implemented in local, community-based programs (see articles published over the past decade in Journal of Ethnic Foods; Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine; Journal of Ethnobiology; Economic Botany; Food, Culture & Society). The current Research Topic offered scholars an opportunity to fill this gap, by exploring new strategies for local production based on the actualization of TFK, promoting locally-owned sustainable tourism and gastronomy with traditional products, and fostering collaborative inclusive platforms of producers, chefs, food activists, local institutions, consumers, and communities. Moreover, this Special Issue intended to invite scholars to look beyond an often-romanticized vision of TFK and to explore the ambiguities of its valorization, i.e., the conundrum generated by commoditization of local knowledge.