Traditional Health Care and | Food and Medicinal Plant Use among Historic Albanian Migrants and Italians in Lucania, Southern Italy

In this chapter, we explore the scientific questions related to the issue of traditional health care and food practices in a community founded by a historical ethnic group of Albanians who migrated to southern Italy during the fifteenth century and among an autochthonous south Italian community. In doing this, we employ the use of food and medicinal plants as a lens for better understanding the ethnomedical practices, including the perception and use of medicinal foods, which we recorded in that area during four years of fieldwork. The specific aim of our reflections is a cross-cultural comparison of traditional medical practices, botanical remedies, and foods in two communities: Ginestra/Zhurë, inhabited by Arbëreshë Albanians, and Castelmezzano, inhabited by autochthonous south Italians. The questions we will address here are: