Throughout Nordic history, angelica (Angelica archangelica) has been a valued resource, often referred to as sweet. This article is inspired by multispecies studies and examines the role of sweetness in the relationship between this plant and Nordic peoples. A review of the ethnobotanical literature is woven together with historical, philological, and ethnographic data to trace angelica's properties and uses throughout Nordic history. Angelica's area of distribution expanded over time and its carbohydrate content increased in some semi-domesticated varieties. In turn, humans relied on it as a food source and conveyor of cultural meaning and value. We find that the plant has been associated with different qualities at different times and that it became sweet through time both materially and symbolically. However, angelica has now mostly disappeared from Nordic diets, while other ingredients in early twentieth century dessert recipes have remained. Our interdisciplinary analysis indicates that symbolism, rather than taste, may explain the sweet character that is associated with angelica in the Nordic region.

At least 50 different plant foods in Indigenous Peoples' traditional diets in northwestern North America—including berries, root vegetables, greens, and tree sap and inner bark—are known for their sweet taste. Some were, and are, appreciated as confections themselves and others were used to sweeten foods and medicinal preparations. These sweet foods were remembered fondly by many elders from childhood times. However, many of these original sweet foods are no longer widely consumed, having been largely replaced by imported molasses, brown sugar, white sugar, syrup, and honey, which were readily incorporated into Indigenous Peoples' food systems following their introduction by Europeans in the past couple of centuries. This shift in use of sweeteners—as well as the adoption of wheat flour, and other introduced and refined carbohydrate foods—has had both positive and negative implications for First Nations' health and well-being. Today, Indigenous cultural revitalization movements in northwestern North America are drawing on the elders' knowledge and memories of their healthy, time-honored foods to recreate and celebrate ancestral dishes, especially those fondl remembered for their sweetness

We evaluate the cultural, ecological, and horticultural potential for a distinctively Australian sweet food to provide a means of Indigenous cultural revitalization. Among the world's Indigenous peoples, the Australian Aboriginal use of the sweet exudations (lerps and scales) of plant sap-sucking insects (Hemiptera) is exceptional in many respects. This food not only provides a sweet treat and a source of energy but can be stored as dry balls for hard times. Lerps feature in Aboriginal calendars, ceremonies, mythology, and cosmology, all of which have embedded biocultural knowledge about the time and place for optimal collection. These insects are central to Indigenous cultures, yet Western science knows surprisingly little about their taxonomy, biology, and ecology. Recently, there has been interest in using lerps in the restaurant industry as part of the commercialization of traditional Aboriginal foods. We highlight the numerous benefits of a collaborative approach to such enterprises and show that there is a wealth of Indigenous Biocultural Knowledge (IBK) that is invaluable for informing and guiding research, conservation, and commercialization of a guild of insects that remains poorly understood.

During the decades of 1960–1980, Richard S. Felger and Mary B. Moser researched the botanical knowledge of the Seris (Comcaac), a hunter-gatherer and fishing people living in the arid desert of northwestern Mexico. They recorded and published an extensive body of species-specific data so rich in biological and ethnographic detail that it is possible to reconstruct a quickly eroding, annual dietary cycle; such a comprehensive account is a precious resource to study transitions in the community diet. In this article, we focus on Seri sweets and sweeteners, represented by 16 fruits, four agave species, one perennial halophyte, pollen paste (beebread), and honey. We rely on archival research to explore various data sources, situating ethnobiological questions in a socio-historical context to provide information on the spatial distribution of resources and the community's livelihood, which can be correlated with specific political zeitgeist. We examine how the swift integration of the Seri society into the state-mediated market in the early-mid twentieth century introduced greater use of exogenous sweeteners and displaced local food items, resulting in culinary acculturation that affected the community's health and well-being. Through understanding the process, we aim to present local foods in ways that are comprehensible to younger Seris in order to foster efforts toward food sovereignty in their community.

Brunei Darussalam is a country with a high consumption of cane sugar. White cane sugar owes its popularity to its ability to colonize our tastes. Despite the popularity of white cane sugar, food and drinks sweetened with gula anau, a sweetener obtained from the mangrove palm nipah (Nypa fruticans) are also prevalent in the popular Bruneian foodways. Gula anau is widely used in the Bruneian foodways to prepare traditional snacks, collectively known as kuih, and drinks. We explore the reasons for the continued co-existence of gula anau along with cane sugar in Bruneian foodways. Applying practice theory, we hypothesize that the practice of using gula anau in the popular Bruneian cuisine stems from the unique meanings and taste attributes attached by the tappers, cooks (kuih makers), and consumers. We conducted interviews with four tappers, five kuih makers, and five consumers to collect data. The results show that although gula anau is not produced within Brunei Darussalam anymore due to socio-economic changes, its production in the neighboring Malaysian state of Sarawak has ensured a continuous supply. The tappers and kuih makers appreciate the unique taste of gula anau in specific ways. However, the consumers are losing the ability to appreciate the unique taste. For the tappers, gula anau is still a famine food, true to its origins. For the kuih makers and the consumers, however, the meanings have reconfigured and gula anau is now a symbol of tradition and cultural heritage. These notions of tradition and cultural heritage explain the persistence of gula anau in the popular foodways of Brunei Darussalam.

Beekeeping among the modern Maya of Yucatan, Mexico, reflects an intricate network of symbiotic relationships between bees, flowering plants, humans, and the managed landscape, which includes both settlements (kaaj, [kah]) and the cultivated and fallow farmlands surrounding them (k'ax). Native stingless bees are valued today both for the honey and wax they produce and the crops they pollinate. This study utilizes the ethnobiology of modern Maya stingless beekeeping to interpret the material correlates of ancient Maya beekeeping through archaeological exploration at Late Formative (200 BC–AD 200) Cerro Maya, Belize. Our contemporary data focus on the species of bees kept, the characteristics of wood species preferred for hive structures (hobon[ob]), the functional parameters of limestone disk hobon covers (mak tuun[ob]), and the plant species identified in symbiotic cultivation with them. The ecological and cultural factors that mediate stingless beekeeping in the present day provide important insights for the interpretation of ancient beekeeping practices at Cerro Maya, evidenced in the worked limestone disks hypothesized to be ancient mak tuunob. Beyond Cerro Maya, the documentation of beekeeping activity throughout ancient urban centers has important implications for the interpretation of urban green spaces in early Maya cities. Together with information on the ritual use of hive furniture and effigies, these data suggest ancient elites recognized the importance of pollinator species, and that deliberate management of stingless bees was standard practice during the period of agricultural intensification known as the Late Formative.