Paper Short Abstract:

Our proposal will present some food practices related to seasonal work migration and climate changes that bring radical transformation in the landscape, as we have recorded in fieldwork in Northern Romanian mountain villages (Oaș and Maramureș regions).

Paper Abstract:

Our proposal, based on research of landscape (specifically meadows) management in mountainous regions of Romania (Oaș and Maramureș regions, situated in the Northern Carpathians), will present some observations concerning change in local domestic animal husbandry and food practices, due to climate change and seasonal work migration abroad. Climate change has been widely accepted politically because of its influence on life on Earth. It has a direct influence on changing local knowledge and practices concerning landscape management, and in changing food habits. Two aspects are important in our approach. First aspect concerns climate change, which has a direct negative effect on biodiversity loss (our research is interdisciplinary, including natural scientists and anthropologists), and adaptation of local knowledge and practices used for grassland management, and, as a consequence, producing animal-based food. A second aspect concerns the humans’ endurance to radical changes in food habits due to migration. One example is the strategy of resisting the pressure of the food industry that the migrants face in the new countries, by receiving aliments (animal products, pickles, fruits, vegetables, cereal products, and water included) from the native communities, sent through bus-car transports by the members of the family that stayed home.