Wildculture is the umbrella term used to include all aspects and styles of "hunting and gathering" food harvesting.[1] Wildculture - harvesting the bounty of nature - was the method of food gathering prior to the development of agriculture thousands of years ago. Some wildculture has persisted side by side with agriculture, with some cultures and communities using both styles of food acquisition,[2] and a few reliant solely on wildculture.
As well as organic standards for agriculture, there are now standards for organic wildculture. The total hectares of wild harvested organic land now exceeds the total of certified organic agriculture land. [3] Finland, Zambia and Brazil lead the world, and together account for more than half of the 33.8 million hectares of certified organic wildculture land reported in 2008. [1]
Wildculture is not to be confused with the term "wild culture", first used in 1986 by the Canadian artist, Whitney Smith (multidisciplinary artist), to refer to the "the articulated ecotone between what humans do and what they can't control in nature".[4] Through his experiences foraging unfurled ostrich ferns and other wild foods in the southern Ontario forest, he was inspired to explore this concept through the medium of a literary magazine, The Journal of Wild Culture. It was published in Toronto by the Society for the Preservation of Wild Culture from 1986-1991, and followed by the book, "Wild Culture: Ecology and Imagination",[5] edited by Whitney Smith and Christopher Lowry.[6] There is much press coverage from the period recording Smith and other collaborators on the subject.[7] The journal published two editions of a "Wild Foods Field Guide" in 1988 and 1990, plus wild food recipes in various issues.[8] An online relaunch is anticipated in 2012.
Australian author Juleigh Robins has advocated the use and consumption of wild food and presents a series of recipes for introducing the flavours, looks, and textures of Australian wild foods.[9]