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UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 22 JANUARY, 2017
THE EDIBL
B Y R Y A N S E E M U N G A L
RESEARCH IN ACTION
The trees growing on the grounds
of The UWI, St. Augustine
Campus have as much significance as its iconic buildings. Yet they
are often overlooked and under-valued. In a recent publication by the
Department of Geography titled,
The Edible Campus
, the Dean of the
Faculty of Food and Agriculture, Dr Wayne Ganpat, wrote, “Trees are
life giving and they are gifts. We must not forget this. They provide
oxygen, vital to our very existence and the existence of this planet; they
shade us from the hot sun; they add an unmatchable visual and aural
aesthetic as they tower over us and the breeze plays with their leaves;
and for some trees, their roots, bark, leaves, flowers, and seeds can be
medicinal and nutritional.”
The sprawling Samaan trees
(Albizia saman)
that shade the grounds
of the Faculty of Food and Agriculture and Faculty of Engineering have
edible seed pods known as “monkey pods” or “cow tamarind” that
can be eaten, though they are most often used in animal fodder. The
majestic Elephant Ear tree
(Enterolobium cyclocarpum),
northeast of the
Main Administration Building, has edible seeds that have been part of
traditional diets in Central and South America from time immemorial.
The Edible Campus project began in 2013 as a series of conversations
on campus between Dr Priya Kissoon, John Stollmeyer and Alain
Huitdeniers, all of whom are passionate about food sovereignty and
environmental sustainability at the margins of modern agriculture.
Subsequently, as a part of inquiry-based coursework, students from
the Geographies of Food course conducted a campus-wide survey of
eating habits, which found that most participants preferred foreign
fast food versus local and creole food, they were not aware of most
edible trees on campus (for example, chimet/star-apple, carambola/
five-finger), and they were also unaware that many trees were edible
(example, stinkin’ toe/locust, calabash).
The Geographies of Food course also mapped the readily edible
plants on campus (such as, those that could be eaten raw or with little
preparation) using Global Positioning Systems (GPS) units to mark
coordinates, and then used Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
to create full colour cartographic maps of the plant locations in relation
to the built environment of the campus.
Ryan Seemungal is a graduate student in the Department of Geography which is headed by Dr Priya Kissoo
