Foraging and Biocultural Capital: Toward Nutritional and Intergenerational Resilience in Community Food Systems

Extrapolating from Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital, this paper introduces biocultural capital as capacity and asset to steward land, food, and knowledge in public commons for present and future generations. At the nexus of nutrition, planetary health and cultural well-being, foraging can support community-based biocultural capital in developing local self-determination and dignity with regard to local food sovereignty and nutrition security. A case study in Syracuse, New York, USA, investigates how community partners and interested residents identify strategies to build biocultural capital through community-based foraging knowledge, networks, and practice.