Primal Herbalism and Ancestral Memories.
February 22nd 2012
Arc Bar, 27 Broad Street, Bristol. 8pm.
Why does interest in herbal medicine persist despite the great advances of modern medicine?
This talk is organised by Truth Juice, and will explore the primal connection with nature that we all seem to share, and which becomes apparent in our instinctive responses to herbs.
I have recently been facilitating a research project base at the City Farm, looking at our responses to following an approximation of the paleolithic diet for 30 days. A particular interest has beens looking at mental and emotional changes that take place when withdrawing recent foods, such as grains and dairy, from the diet, and when consuming only foods that would have been available before the emergence of agriculture.
Tonight’s talk will explore the evolution of taste preferences. Our modern physiology is pretty much identical to that of our pre-agricultural ancestors. By looking at modern tastes, cravings, and addictions we can reasonably speculate on the relative abundance and scarcity of foods suitable to meet the nutritional requirements of our direct ancestors. We can also gain an insight into our relationship with particular plants and herbs – how our use of aromatic herbs, for example, probably goes back a long, long way into the past.