Dani Bustillo and Kike Gallardo have shared a passion for edible plants ever since they studied biology in Madrid. Botany is a science and an ecological issue that they transmit with passion, using art as an excuse: drawing for Dani, cooking for Kike. The result is an educational project entitled "El Herbario Comestible" (The Edible Herbarium), designed to reconnect us with nature and raise awareness of climate and biodiversity issues. What role does plants play in these environmental challenges? How can art reconnect us with nature and awaken our consciousness? Dani and Kike invite us on a singular journey where art and the science of life form a seductive combo that awakens our desire to better preserve nature.

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"We want to give back importance to the plants that have been here since the beginning," explains Dani, emphasizing the historical role of plants for our planet. As a child growing up in Zaragoza in north-eastern Spain, he was well connected to nature, and already "wanted to know more". This appetite for knowledge remains the common thread running through his commitment years later. More than his academic career, his life experiences and travels in Asia and Latin America made him aware of environmental changes. For Kike, the turning point came in Argentina, when a project with a local community gave him a better understanding of the links between ecosystems and food. Nature, exploration, and learning - the ground was fertile for the future: "El Herbario Comestible" (The Edible Herbarium), thanks to an awareness combined with a determination to put nature back in its rightful place.

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Regarding climate change, we often forget the issues of nature and biodiversity at a time when "we have entered a new mass extinction", as Dani reminds us. Climate change is more like a wake-up call to the changes underway, which have been accelerated by our human activities, but which de facto perpetuate them. "It's like a vicious circle, because global warming has an impact on nature, while at the same time we need nature to combat it," sums up Kike. In 2023, Spain was caught up in these complex links between ecosystems, biodiversity, and climate, on the front line in the face of droughts that are calling its agricultural model into question, and forest fires like its Mediterranean neighbors (Greece and Turkey) and Canada.

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Nature's suffering as planetary limits are exceeded

In the media, climate issues are often narrowly framed as "decarbonization," which refers to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to meet the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees. However, this perspective tends to neglect the broader concern of planetary boundaries. This broader perspective seeks to answer the question, "How much can our planet sustain human activities without jeopardizing our living conditions?"  While the concept of planetary boundaries, as introduced by the Stockholm Resilience Centre, is still a topic of ongoing scientific research, it is gaining increasing recognition from governments and global institutions. It's worth noting that humanity has already surpassed seven of the nine identified planetary boundaries, including the decline in biodiversity. In the midst of the ongoing sixth mass extinction crisis, which is occurring at a rate 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than previous extinctions, approximately 20% of animal and plant species are currently under threat.

Biodiversity is on a consistent decline due to the pressures exerted by human activities such as urbanization, agriculture, and industrial processes. These pressures include artificializing soil, altering land usage, soil contamination, overexploitation, and the overall disruption of our ecosystems. Dani illustrates this with "intensive agriculture which, through its monocultures, destroys natural habitats and living ecosystems": insects are disappearing (pollination under threat), deforestation (e.g. Amazonia), soil fertility is declining. Last but not least, nature, which is more vulnerable, is directly impacted by global warming: rising temperatures, droughts, forest fires and floods threaten the very existence of many animal and plant species.

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A modern lifestyle with less empathy for nature

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Yet we depend on biodiversity, particularly plants, and our planet's living conditions are linked to its preservation: drinking water, food security and health. It serves as the foundation of the food chain and our ecosystems, ultimately enhancing our quality of life. Beyond its material contributions in providing sustenance, clothing, and shelter, biodiversity offers therapeutic benefits through medicinal resources and enhances mental well-being by virtue of the beauty it provides through living organisms. Furthermore, it serves a regulatory function, impacting the quality of the air we breathe (supplying oxygen and recycling carbon), as well as influencing water and soil quality. Ultimately, biodiversity plays a crucial role in maintaining climate stability by acting as a carbon sink and as a safeguard against climate-related hazards like erosion, heatwaves, and floods. In addressing the challenges of climate change, nature-based solutions and its inherent resilience become valuable allies.

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Historically, plants have also played a spiritual role for some indigenous populations (e.g. rituals) and contributed to shared social experiences: educational, aesthetic or recreational. A cultural role for plants that is all too often forgotten by our contemporary urban societies, connected to screens but disconnected from nature. Spain is no exception, with Madrid and Barcelona among the six largest metropolitan areas on the continent. As Dani observes, the rural exodus alongside the advent of post-industrial societies has seen the emergence of "new urban generations who have never lived in the countryside", disconnected from natural resources. It's hard to visualize the virtual footprint of our finished products in store and become aware of the need to preserve nature and its biodiversity. More than just raising awareness, climatologist Valérie Masson-Delmotte recommends developing "biodiversity empathy" (Tout comprendre ou (presque) sur la biodiversité), the first step towards taking action and speeding up priority transformations for biodiversity.

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Art as a pretext for talking ecology and (re)awakening consciences
 

"This project was born of a dream: to pass on what we had learned through our studies in biology, our life experiences and our travels," says Dani.  El Herbario Comestible's founding idea is to raise awareness through education. In 2011, their friendship was born in Madrid on the benches of the biology faculty, where Dani and Kike already shared an interest for science, botany, and art. Later, their paths diverged. Dani pursued his quest for knowledge with a PhD in biology, while cultivating his passion for drawing. On his side, Kike began his apprenticeship as a chef by working in some of the finest restaurants on the Iberian Peninsula, including El Celler de Can Roca in Catalonia, where he became head biologist. The opportunity to continue his discovery of wild edible plants through restaurants's herbariums and by incorporating them into his future gastronomic creations, a creativity recognized by awards (Young Talent of Gastronomy 2022, Basque Culinary Center and Michelin star in Saigon, 2023).

 

The two friends continue to share their respective learnings and are taking a closer look at forgotten edible plants, their uses as food, but also their medicinal or spiritual role, depending on the culture. Passionate and eager to pass on their knowledge, they are keen to set up an attractive educational project to share the stories of these edible plants "without being as boring as an academic biology course", Kike jokes. In 2016, the latter was already organizing secret dinners in Madrid, preparing "little tapas" based on edible plants. He then convinced Dani to join him in launching the project. Their aim is to tell a story based on plants, often wild, which are sometimes misunderstood or considered bad in the collective imagination, to create emotion and start a conversation, using art as an excuse. In terms of form, the complementary duo calls on their respective talents: drawing for Dani, illustrations, and cooking for Kike, tapas made from edible herbs. "El Herbario Comestible" (The Edible Herbarium) was born.

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An educational project to sow seeds within the community

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The project takes the form of educational workshops and nature outings. In an inspiring venue, like the CodoconCodo art gallery in Madrid, some thirty participants are invited by word to mouth and social networks. The masters of ceremony present a succession of little-known edible plants, like scenes in a play. Dani takes care of the historical dimension through anecdotes and questions to guests, supported by drawings inspired by famous botanical illustrators such as Katie Scott. At the same time, Kike fine-tunes the preparation of these "little tapas". Then it's time for the tasting. Participants are often baffled, their preconceptions challenged, and new taste sensations discovered. Among the most emblematic plants, carefully selected from nature, the mountains, or the sea, are:
 

• Truffle (tuber melanosporum), a mushroom that grows on hazelnut or oak trees, also expressing the symbiosis between the world and people, the bonds created by learning from personal experience.

• Fennel (foeniculum vulgare), representing the Mediterranean region. This plant evokes the domestication of wild varieties and the way it has shaped social and gastronomic history.

• Barnacle seaweed (Codium tomentosum), offering a taste of the sea and the Spanish Atlantic coast. This allows us to delve into the history, evolution, and significance of another living species.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                     1/ Daniel Bustillo - Coconcodo Art Gallery, Madrid - Spain (2023) - Credit Photo: Thomas Verjus             
                                                                     2/ El Herbario Comestible - Coconcodo Art Gallery, Madrid - Spain (2023) - Credit Photo: Thomas Verjus

 

The workshops are complemented by nature immersions in the Madrid region. This is an opportunity to identify all the edible plants in the field, and to learn to observe our surroundings by noting and drawing what we find. "To respect and protect nature, you have to be in love with it", reminds Kike, summing up the philosophy of "El Herbario Comestible", trying to "seduce participants into learning about our environment, what surrounds us", drawing on art and especially gastronomy to create a recreational and memorable moment. Their main pride today with this educational project is to have succeeded in creating these sharing moments, "synergies between people and contributing, even on a small scale, to setting things in motion", explains Dani.

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Raising awareness of biodiversity issues to better preserve it

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A more sustainable world, a planet that is ultimately habitable, means taking real account of biodiversity. This translates into two main challenges:

 

1. PRESERVE biodiversity: to reverse the destructive trend of human activities, the first step is to be able to ensure that any expansion projects on unimpacted ecosystems are stopped. This is already the case for existing areas protected by law or recent regulations in France regarding land use (ex : loi climat et résilience en France, « zéro artificialisation nette »). This is also what many NGOs are working on at community level. Activists are also fighting for it, as illustrated by stop EACOP, which aims to halt the ecocidal pipeline expansion project in Uganda, which is destroying habitats and ecosystems.

2. REGENERATING and REWILDING nature: intervening to recreate balanced spaces between nature and humans, through the reintroduction of animal species or revegetation, for example. Agroecological practices are a good illustration of this idea. Rewilding means "letting nature breathe, letting nature reclaim a protected area", explains Dani, referring to a veritable oasis recreated in Salamanca (Spain) on the initiative of the Fundation Tormes-EB.

 

While public authorities and the business world have a key role to play, citizens must act to challenge the limits of the current model and help accelerate change. As well as raising awareness and reflecting on its impact, what could be the concrete levers for action on a citizen scale?

 

. LISTEN TO SCIENTISTS: our power to act is often limited by our lack of knowledge, and it's normal not to know everything. Get informed by reading and watching, but also ask those who know - the scientists - what they can do about climate and biodiversity, in order to better understand, be inspired and have the keys to take action. For Dani, it remains essential to "better communicate and popularize these subjects without hiding the truth". A challenge that is more topical than ever for the media. In 2023, a group of French media, led by Vert, launched the first "charter for journalism that meets the ecological emergency".
 

. THINK about your FOOD: make sure you don't overconsume (30% of food waste) and go vegetarian "without forcing you to be vegetarian", Dani points out. Think about your impact, align yourself with the rhythm of the seasons and eat more locally. For Kike, "eating is a political act", and becoming aware of it means taking better account of biodiversity issues, feeling responsible and respecting nature through our food, while rediscovering the notion of pleasure.

More challenging, it's about questioning our current economic model, which is over-producing, over-consuming and destructive, "changing the way we do things", adds Kike. It's not just about nature, it's also about "thinking how we want to live our daily lives in the future", Dani adds.

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Putting your talent to work for a new society
 

With this new world taking shape, "it's our relationship with our space and our time that needs to change", says Dani. In an urban society disconnected from nature, Dani urges us to "get away from screens", "get outdoors" and "take the time to stop and observe what surrounds us" to live better. Referring to Saigon and Hanoi where he lived in Vietnam, Kike points to the limits of this urban model and believes that our future resilience lies in "setting up smaller, human-scale communities", better connected to nature. The current crisis offers a unique opportunity to "reinvent our lifestyles", and the individual can make a meaningful contribution by putting his or her talent at the service of this new society to be imagined. It's a form of Hispanic "Ikigai", enabling each and every one of us to take greater responsibility in the face of the crisis, while at the same time enjoying ourselves in the process. In the end, it's all about "rediscovering our childlike spirit, learning and continuing to grow", concludes Dani.

 

Talent paired with creativity, this is the recipe proposed by the "El Herbario Comestible" duo, using art as a beautiful excuse to better seduce and awaken consciences. With passion as their driving force, Dani and Kike continue to plant seeds in their community through their educational project. This is also reflected in their daily activities from Madrid to Hanoi, where they pass on their knowledge and love of living things. Nature outings to educate new generations for Dani. While Kike had opened the Capos restaurant in Hanoi in 2023, celebrating Spanish cuisine with the best of Vietnamese terroir, like this paella reinterpreted thanks to the rice fields of Sapa. In 2024, they launched a new tour of events in Spain. With a single idea in mind for our two artists, that of transmitting and seducing to better involve us in the ecological revolution.

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KEY FIGURES
 

7 of the 9 planetary limits have been exceeded (source: Nature)

20% of plant species threatened with extinction (source: Tout comprendre (ou presque) sur la biodiversité)

38 acres lost every minute in the world (source: world count)

80% of our food coming from plants (source: UN)

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DEFINITIONS
 

. Biodiversity: diversity of living species (micro-organisms, plants, animals) present in an environment. Term coined in the 80s, a contraction of "biological diversity". (source: Le Petit Robert)
. Botany: scientific study of plants (source: Futura Sciences)

. Ecosystem: what is an ecosystem? It's a biological system made up of a physical environment and a community of different, interrelated living organisms. It is a habitat in which all the inhabitants cohabit and provide essential aspects for the proper maintenance of the ecosystem. (source: Geo)
. Planetary limit: a critical threshold beyond which the destabilization of Earth's processes could result in perilous and irreversible consequences for living organisms. These boundaries encompass various factors such as climate change, biodiversity decline, disruption of nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, alterations in land usage, the introduction of new substances, modifications in the freshwater cycle, ocean acidification, ozone layer depletion, and an increase in atmospheric aerosols. This concept was established in 2009 by a group of researchers from the Stockholm Resilience Center, led by Johan Rockström and Will Steffen. Their findings were published in the document titled "Planetary Boundaries: Exploring the Safe Operating Space for Humanity.” (source: Reporterre)

 

REFERENCES
 

Websites
-El Herbario Comestible – http://www.elherbariocomestible.com
-Daniel Bustillo – Biologist & Illustrator –Instagram
-Kike Gallardo – Chef & Biologist –Instagram
-Codoconcodo Madrid – https://www.codoconcodomadrid.com/
-Stockholm Resilience Centre – https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/planetary-boundaries.html
-Aina S.Erice – Botanical author –https://www.ainaserice.com/index-en.html
-Katie Scott – Botanical illustrator – https://katie-scott.com/#botanicum
-Danit – https://danit.bandcamp.com/

Podcasts & Interviews
-Le Monde - Podcast « La biodiversité disparaît-elle dans l’indifférence ? » – https://podcasts.lemonde.fr/lheure-du-monde/202210240000-la-biodiversite-disparait-elle-dans-lindifference
-Greenletter Club – Podcast « Biodiversité : vers une sixième extinction de masse ? » – https://greenletterclub.fr/podcast/episode-27

Documentaries & Books
-Book « Tout comprendre ou presque sur la biodiversité » - Philippe Grandcolas, Claire Marc (FR)
-Book « La planète inhabitable » - David Wallace-Wells (FR/EN)
-TV Show « Les supers pouvoirs des plantes » - France 5 (FR)
 

Articles & Other
-GEO – « Quelles sont les limites planétaires et à quoi sert ce concept ? » (FR) –https://www.geo.fr/animaux/quelles-sont-les-limites-planetaires-et-a-quoi-sert-ce-concept-en-ecologie-journee-mondiale-environnement-boehly-214966
-BonPote – « La 5ème limite planétaire vient d’être dépassée et tout le monde s’en fout » (FR) – https://bonpote.com/la-5eme-limite-planetaire-vient-detre-officiellement-franchie-et-tout-le-monde-sen-fout/
-Libération – « Insectes : s’ils disparaissent, nous disparaissons» (FR)  –https://www.liberation.fr/idees-et-debats/editorial/insectes-sils-disparaissent-nous-disparaissons-20230411_BLQ7L3TRX5B5NOEH5ODT4UPEEM/
-France Info – « 80% des plantes comestibles poussant en France sont comestibles » (FR)  - https://www.francetvinfo.fr/replay-magazine/france-2/13h15/video-alimentation-80-des-6-000-plantes-sauvages-qui-poussent-en-france-sont-comestibles_4034467.html
-France Culture – « Le chemin de la nature : pour reconnaître les plantes comestibles et sauvages » - https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/demain-l-eco/le-chemin-de-la-nature-pour-reconnaitre-les-plantes-sauvages-et-comestibles-5103018

 

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