Wild Edible Plants: Nutritional Value, Phytochemical Composition and Health Benefits
A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutraceuticals, Functional Foods, and Novel Foods".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 September 2022) | Viewed by 13889
Special Issue Editors
Interests: food authenticity; food chemistry; molecular biology approaches applied to food authentication and GMO detection; plant food supplements; bioactive compounds; antioxidant activity; antimicrobial activity; chromatography; development of analytical methods
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: extraction technologies; isolation of phytochemicals and bioactive compounds from fruits and vegetables; development of food formulations with functional properties; natural substances as substitutes for chemical additives (antioxidants; antimicrobial)
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Since ancient times, wild edible plants (WEPs) have been playing a fundamental role in the human diet, being part of traditional diets and foods systems and also providing important nutrients in times of food scarcity. They include several non-domesticated plants that grow spontaneously in nature and whose berries, leaves, roots, seeds, stalks and/or flowers are still collected and incorporated in the diet of several communities around the globe, mainly in rural regions. In many societies, WEPs are considered as part of their cultural heritage and sociocultural traditions. Over the last several decades, particularly in modern societies, several factors such as agriculture intensification of selected crops, climate change, urbanization and lifestyle changes have been contributing for the loss of biodiversity and the loss of traditional/local knowledge with the consequent decrease in WEPs consumption. However, more recently, there has been a growing interest on several wild plants as they are increasingly perceived as nutritious foods with associated health benefits that, at the same time, offer a link to traditions and a possibility of reinventing new dishes in haute cuisine. Moreover, the importance of these natural and low-cost resources in populations’ food sovereignty and sustainability is increasingly recognized worldwide.
This Special Issue is associated with a Bilateral Portugal-Brazil project that aims to study the nutritional profile, chemical composition, sensory aspects, and bioactive properties of different WEPs traditionally consumed in Brazil. In this context, and considering that more research is needed on several autochthonous wild plants that are still understudied, we invite researchers to submit unpublished original manuscripts and review papers to compose a Special Issue on several aspects related to wild edible plants, such as their chemical composition in terms of nutrients and minor compounds (minerals, vitamins, carotenoids, flavonoids, etc.), sensory aspects, biological properties (antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, etc.), new trends and uses in innovative dishes and changes with processing, among others.
Prof. Dr. Joana S. Amaral
Prof. Dr. Cristiane Canan
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- wild edible plants
- non-conventional plant foods
- indigenous foods
- traditional food systems
- nutrition and diets
- biological properties
- food sustainability
- food sovereignty
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