Browsing by Author "Hannula, Tiia"

Aims. The purpose of this study was find out use of wild herbs and vegetables as food in Finland. Hypothesis was that people who are interested in choice of food and environmental considerarion also collect and eat wild herbs. The study is based on theory of previous researches and history of wild herbs in Finland. The research questions of this study were following: 1. Which wild herbs are used as food? 2. Why wild herbs are collected? 3. How wild herbs are used as food? Methods. Collection of quantitative data was carried out in March 2016. The data was collected with an e-form and it was shared to Facebook group ”Wild vegetables and herbs”. 155 replies were collected. The youngest respondent was 21 years old and the oldest was 79 years old. Results were analysed with averages and content analysis. Results and conclusions. The group of respondents is heterogeneous so results cannot be generalized. Unlike in history of Finland, there is no necessity to collect wild herbs today. The hypothesis was confirmed because the most important things in collection of wild herbs were healthy, naturalness and environmental consideration. Also habits and ways to collect wild herbs were influental. Collection of wild herbs can be a hobby that has passed from one generation to another. Nettle has been the most popular wild herb and drying as a method of preservation from the Second World War to this day.