Search

Dried and fermented mutton has been an essential storable protein source in an economy where weather conditions and seasonal fluctuations affect the availability of food. For generations, the Faroe islanders have prepared ræstkjøt (fermented and semidried mutton) and skerpikjøt (dried mutton) as an efficient and valuable cultural strategy for preserving meat. The data for this study have been collected through anthropological and ethnobiological fieldwork as an embedded participant observer, supplemented with studies from written sources. Data were selected and qualitatively analysed. Our findings show that this traditional cuisine, so far rarely noticed by researchers as a food heritage, requires that the islanders have access to sheep, master the technique of properly treating the slaughtered carcases, and that the necessary ecological conditions, in relation to wind and temperature, prevail for the meat to ferment and dry. They must also have access to the necessary equipment and skills, and be able to assess when the dried meat is cured. The relationship that exists between humans and the active microorganisms in this specific context is also discussed. Appreciating and consuming local fermented food is also an important way of expressing Faroese cultural identity. Once a staple for rural people, fermented mutton is nowadays a rather exclusive delicacy. The study provides insights into a complex activity that includes local artisanship and food heritage based on the triangle of human–sheep-microbiota. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central Asian wildmen traditions can be divided into two main lines: Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, which as well as Chinese Central Asia seem to belong to the same tradition. This line is close to Tibetan and Chinese wildmen beliefs. Tajikistan and the Pamir Mountains belong to another cultural area, which is connected to Iranian and Indian folklore. We focus here on the wildmen in Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, describing and analysing wildmen stories from three points of view: ernie, etic, and mixed perspectives. These points of view should be seen as dimensions of understanding which complement each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study concerning the use of traditional plants for reducing clothes moths Tineola bisselliella, human fleas Pulex irritans and bedbugs Cimex lectularius. It is stated that plant used as repellents have specific scent which is able to kill these insects, first one is sweet flag Acorus calamus used against fleas and Wormwood Artemisia absinthium used against clothes moths. It further states that marsh rosemary Rhododendron tomentosum was able to kill all three insects.