Foraging as an Aesthetic Response to Hunger

Abstract

This article analyses the aesthetic dimensions of foraging through a botanical walking tour alongside Kaniatarowanenneh, “the big waterway,” otherwise known as the St. Lawrence River, at Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montréal. There are rules involved in foraging, and performative dimensions to its enactment that lead to a particular orientation toward place. A certain choreography is involved in foraging. In the waterfront walk, Balade Nature, which I describe, participants are guided through a tour of edible and medicinal plants. They can be found crouching, stooping, leaning, observing, listening, comparing, moving back and forth, even lighting the scene — as with cell phones — for a better view, discussing and exchanging information, looking down, treading carefully, digging with bare fingers, picking, and more. These acts attune participants to place. The hunger that catalyses foraging contains within it deep interest in other species, and demands attunement to place. This aesthetic sometimes also involves an orientation toward food justice.