title: Of the importance of a leaf: the ethnobotany of sarma in Turkey and the Balkans.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sarma - cooked leaves rolled around a filling made from rice and/or minced meat, possibly vegetables and seasoning plants - represents one of the most widespread feasting dishes of the Middle Eastern and South-Eastern European cuisines. Although cabbage and grape vine sarma is well-known worldwide, the use of alternative plant leaves remains largely unexplored. The aim of this research was to document all of the botanical taxa whose leaves are used for preparing sarma in the folk cuisines of Turkey and the Balkans.
  
  
  METHODS
  Field studies were conducted during broader ethnobotanical surveys, as well as during ad-hoc investigations between the years 2011 and 2014 that included diverse rural communities in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey. Primary ethnobotanical and folkloric literatures in each country were also considered.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty-seven botanical taxa, mainly wild, belonging to 50 genera and 27 families, were found to represent the bio-cultural heritage of sarma in Turkey and the Balkans. The greatest plant biodiversity in sarma was found in Turkey and, to less extent, in Bulgaria and Romania. The most commonly used leaves for preparing sarma were those of cabbage (both fresh and lacto-fermented), grape vine, beet, dock, sorrel, horseradish, lime tree, bean, and spinach. In a few cases, the leaves of endemic species (Centaurea haradjianii, Rumex gracilescens, and R. olympicus in Turkey) were recorded. Other uncommon sarma preparations were based on lightly toxic taxa, such as potato leaves in NE Albania, leaves of Arum, Convolvulus, and Smilax species in Turkey, of Phytolacca americana in Macedonia, and of Tussilago farfara in diverse countries. Moreover, the use of leaves of the introduced species Reynoutria japonica in Romania, Colocasia esculenta in Turkey, and Phytolacca americana in Macedonia shows the dynamic nature of folk cuisines.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The rich ethnobotanical diversity of sarma confirms the urgent need to record folk culinary plant knowledge. The results presented here can be implemented into initiatives aimed at re-evaluating folk cuisines and niche food markets based on local neglected ingredients, and possibly also to foster trajectories of the avant-garde cuisines inspired by ethnobotanical knowledge.
authors.affiliation: Buca Faculty of Education, Dokuz Eylul University, 35150, Buca, Izmir, Turkey. yunus.dogan@deu.edu.tr.
authors.forename: Yunus
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dogan
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, University of Sofia, Blvd. Dragan Tzankov, 1164, Sofia, Bulgaria. aneli_nedelcheva@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Anely
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nedelcheva
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Institute of Applied Biotechnology and Basic Sciences, University of Rzeszów, Werynia 502, 36-100, Kolbuszowa, Poland. lukasz.luczaj@interia.pl.
authors.forename: Łukasz
authors.initials: Ł
authors.lastname: Łuczaj
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Environmental Protection, Lucian Blaga University, Dr. Ioan Raţiu St. 5-7, Sibiu, Romania. constantindragulescu@yahoo.ro.
authors.forename: Constantin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Drăgulescu
authors.affiliation: Department for Pharmacognosy, Phytochemistry and Pharmaceutical Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy, University Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Skopje, Macedonia. gstefkov@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Gjoshe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stefkov
authors.affiliation: , Via Bertolina 79, I-12084, Mondovì (Cuneo), Italy. aida_mag@yahoo.it.
authors.forename: Aida
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maglajlić
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, K1H 8 M5, Canada. jonathanferrier@me.com.|Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Chronic Disease Program, Ottawa, K1Y 4E9, Canada. jonathanferrier@me.com.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ferrier
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Pécs, Rókus 2, 7624, Pécs, Hungary. nora4595@gamma.ttk.pte.hu.
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Papp
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biological and Environmental Research, University of Prishtina "Hasan Prishtina", Mother Teresa Str., 10 000, Prishtinë, Republic of Kosovo. avhajdari@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Avni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hajdari
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biological and Environmental Research, University of Prishtina "Hasan Prishtina", Mother Teresa Str., 10 000, Prishtinë, Republic of Kosovo. behxhetm@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Behxhet
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mustafa
authors.affiliation: Department of Agrobotany, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Nemanjina 6, 11080, Zemun, Belgrade, Serbia. dajic@agrif.bg.ac.rs.
authors.forename: Zora
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Dajić-Stevanović
authors.affiliation: University of Gastronomic Sciences, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele 9, 12060, Bra/Pollenzo, Italy. a.pieroni@unisg.it.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pieroni
mesh_terms: D063368:Balkan Peninsula; D001937:Brassica; D003296:Cooking; D003469:Culture; D019448:Ethnobotany; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018515:Plant Leaves; D010945:Plants, Edible; D014421:Turkey; D027843:Vitis