Gastronomic Landscapes and Biosphere Stewardship: Can Landscapes Be Revitalized Through the Daily Art of Choosing, Cooking, and Eating Food?

Food system transformation is an important entry point for global sustainability. As a result of years of increased rationalization and consolidation of food systems, the knowledge, and skills of many actors in food value chains, especially those linked to smaller-scale traditional and artisanal production, processing, and cooking, have rapidly been eroded, despite the resilience that such knowledge and skills could offer. In this paper, we use the lens of gastronomy to highlight how culinary craftsmanship and innovation hold potential to drive the development of biosphere stewardship that contributes to more biocultural, diverse, and resilient landscapes. We propose the concept of ‘gastronomic landscapes,’ i.e., landscapes that are governed, managed, or cared for to enable culinary development while having substantive value for landscape resilience and food system sustainability. Through six diverse cases representing different knowledge systems and landscapes across the world, the breadth of gastronomy and how it is linked to landscapes is highlighted. We develop a typology of characteristics that can be used in future analyses. In the paper, we conclude that thinking and acting in line with gastronomic landscapes can help build resilience and food sovereignty over time and offers a helpful conceptualization for further studies.