Not “just necessity”? Two-x-eco-cultural dilemmas and the ethnobiological importance of the informal grannies’ markets in Moldova
Abstract Informal food markets, particularly those managed by (elderly) women in post-communist Eastern Europe, represent a biocultural phenomenon of profound significance since globalisation and increasingly strict legal frameworks often threaten these reservoirs of biocultural food heritage. In th...
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BMC
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13002-025-00770-8 |
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| author | Andrea Pieroni Dauro Mattia Zocchi Mousaab Alrhmoun Naji Sulaiman Miroslava Bavorova Renata Sõukand |
| author_facet | Andrea Pieroni Dauro Mattia Zocchi Mousaab Alrhmoun Naji Sulaiman Miroslava Bavorova Renata Sõukand |
| author_sort | Andrea Pieroni |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Informal food markets, particularly those managed by (elderly) women in post-communist Eastern Europe, represent a biocultural phenomenon of profound significance since globalisation and increasingly strict legal frameworks often threaten these reservoirs of biocultural food heritage. In the fall of 2022 and 2023, a preliminary field study was conducted by visiting the informal markets of six Moldovan centres: Chișinău, Orhei, Bălți, Călărași, Comrat, and Taraclia, and conversing with approximately 40 mid-aged and elderly sellers. We argue that these markets are crucial in sustaining small-scale farming, preserving biodiversity, and maintaining a connection between urban communities and rural communities and, ultimately, between these rural citizens and their nature, keeping small-scale family farming and domestic traditional gastronomic activities alive. By trading fresh, homegrown, and homemade food and goods (including handicrafts), these mid-aged and elderly vendors support local economies, promote environmental sustainability, and safeguard traditional ecological knowledge and cultural heritage. This paper explores how grannies’ markets contribute to biocultural diversity and sustainable food practices, especially amid the country’s recent turbulent political, socioeconomic, and demographic challenges. The analysis advocates for the survival rights of these ecological, economic, and cultural (2-x-eco-cultural) refugia and invites ethnobiologists, food studies and cultural heritage scholars, rural sociologists, and agricultural economists to defend the biocultural diversity of informal food markets, moving them from an “out of necessity” status to a solid pillar of a possible future, new, family farming and small-scale ecological and gastronomic (conscientious) tourism. Policymakers should protect and enhance these informal spaces, especially the socioecological farming systems behind them, as essential socioeconomic and environmental assets. They should emphasise their importance as hubs for biological diversity, cultural preservation, community cohesion, and ecological sustainability. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5a976d3372094de199ac15691e176168 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1746-4269 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine |
| spelling | doaj-art-5a976d3372094de199ac15691e1761682025-08-20T02:56:12ZengBMCJournal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine1746-42692025-03-0121111210.1186/s13002-025-00770-8Not “just necessity”? Two-x-eco-cultural dilemmas and the ethnobiological importance of the informal grannies’ markets in MoldovaAndrea Pieroni0Dauro Mattia Zocchi1Mousaab Alrhmoun2Naji Sulaiman3Miroslava Bavorova4Renata Sõukand5University of Gastronomic SciencesDipartimento Di Lingue, Letterature E Culture Straniere, University of BergamoUniversity of Gastronomic SciencesUniversity of Gastronomic SciencesFaculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZU)Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics, and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of VeniceAbstract Informal food markets, particularly those managed by (elderly) women in post-communist Eastern Europe, represent a biocultural phenomenon of profound significance since globalisation and increasingly strict legal frameworks often threaten these reservoirs of biocultural food heritage. In the fall of 2022 and 2023, a preliminary field study was conducted by visiting the informal markets of six Moldovan centres: Chișinău, Orhei, Bălți, Călărași, Comrat, and Taraclia, and conversing with approximately 40 mid-aged and elderly sellers. We argue that these markets are crucial in sustaining small-scale farming, preserving biodiversity, and maintaining a connection between urban communities and rural communities and, ultimately, between these rural citizens and their nature, keeping small-scale family farming and domestic traditional gastronomic activities alive. By trading fresh, homegrown, and homemade food and goods (including handicrafts), these mid-aged and elderly vendors support local economies, promote environmental sustainability, and safeguard traditional ecological knowledge and cultural heritage. This paper explores how grannies’ markets contribute to biocultural diversity and sustainable food practices, especially amid the country’s recent turbulent political, socioeconomic, and demographic challenges. The analysis advocates for the survival rights of these ecological, economic, and cultural (2-x-eco-cultural) refugia and invites ethnobiologists, food studies and cultural heritage scholars, rural sociologists, and agricultural economists to defend the biocultural diversity of informal food markets, moving them from an “out of necessity” status to a solid pillar of a possible future, new, family farming and small-scale ecological and gastronomic (conscientious) tourism. Policymakers should protect and enhance these informal spaces, especially the socioecological farming systems behind them, as essential socioeconomic and environmental assets. They should emphasise their importance as hubs for biological diversity, cultural preservation, community cohesion, and ecological sustainability.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13002-025-00770-8EthnobiologyFood heritageInformal marketsGrannies’ marketsMoldova |
| spellingShingle | Andrea Pieroni Dauro Mattia Zocchi Mousaab Alrhmoun Naji Sulaiman Miroslava Bavorova Renata Sõukand Not “just necessity”? Two-x-eco-cultural dilemmas and the ethnobiological importance of the informal grannies’ markets in Moldova Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine Ethnobiology Food heritage Informal markets Grannies’ markets Moldova |
| title | Not “just necessity”? Two-x-eco-cultural dilemmas and the ethnobiological importance of the informal grannies’ markets in Moldova |
| title_full | Not “just necessity”? Two-x-eco-cultural dilemmas and the ethnobiological importance of the informal grannies’ markets in Moldova |
| title_fullStr | Not “just necessity”? Two-x-eco-cultural dilemmas and the ethnobiological importance of the informal grannies’ markets in Moldova |
| title_full_unstemmed | Not “just necessity”? Two-x-eco-cultural dilemmas and the ethnobiological importance of the informal grannies’ markets in Moldova |
| title_short | Not “just necessity”? Two-x-eco-cultural dilemmas and the ethnobiological importance of the informal grannies’ markets in Moldova |
| title_sort | not just necessity two x eco cultural dilemmas and the ethnobiological importance of the informal grannies markets in moldova |
| topic | Ethnobiology Food heritage Informal markets Grannies’ markets Moldova |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13002-025-00770-8 |
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