Indigenous culinary traditions built upon unique combinations of native
flora constitute an invaluable yet increasingly endangered form of intangible cultural
heritage. However, the communal and incremental refinements to these place-based
food practices over centuries struggle to find protection under modern intellectual
property frameworks centered on individual ownership. This chapter discusses
emerging directions and technologies that can potentially assist indigenous
communities in retaining custodianship and gaining recognition over culinary heritage
involving heritage crops and multi-ingredient formulations while also deriving fair
economic benefits from commercial promotion. Digital databases and geographical
indications emerge as means for collectivization to address diffused individual rights.
Benefit-sharing models based on disclosure restrictions rather than information
ownership show promise for balancing commercial value with cultural sensitivity.
Participatory sensor-based technologies can enforce traceability and transparency
across supply chains to ensure compensation flows back to originating communities
according to access and benefit-sharing principles. However, centralized regulatory
approaches remain limited in encompassing the diversity of traditional contexts,
informal innovations, and customary laws around indigenous food heritage. Ultimately,
preserving the culinary heritage requires harmonizing formal intellectual property
protections, contract law regulations, and community-managed traditional resource
rights framed by principles of intergenerational knowledge sovereignty and indigenous
data governance. Advancing analytical techniques and blockchain-enabled tracking
offer future opportunities if deployed responsibly and aligned to the cultural and ethical
norms of indigenous communities.
Keywords: Advance analytic techniques, Benefit sharing, Cultural sensitivity, Culinary heritage, Digital database, Food heritage, Geographical indications, Indigenous herbs, Intellectual property, Indigenous data, Sensor-based technology, Traditional knowledge.
