Perennials – Part I (full text)

In “Perennials,” Ernst Götsch brings back memories of his childhood and his family’s eating habits. But, along with reviving flavors and varieties of countless fruits, leaves, herbs, and roots, Ernst also unfolds a sensitive anthropological thread that reveals much about the values and practices of ancient rural communities, moments before their extinction — deliberately driven by the dissemination campaigns of the so-called modernization of agriculture.

The context is northeastern Switzerland. The memories are composed of both his own experiences and the testimonials of the elder members of his community. It expands the range of this narrative for at least two or three generations and depicts a type of landscape management we no longer have — a place and time that is worth revisiting, and perhaps learn some beautiful lessons from it.

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