Home Institution
University of Oregon
Publication Date
Fall 2022
Abstract
Mad honey is a rare variety of cliff honey found in the mountainous regions of Turkey and Nepal and has been harvested by Indigenous groups for centuries. In Nepal, it is found on high-hanging cliffs that people risk their lives to face, but what makes this honey so special to cause generations of Nepalis to brave the formidable heights? Through a series of reading primary and secondary sources, watching first-hand accounts of honey hunting, and interviewing honey hunters, filmmakers, authors, and laypeople alike, I work to find the answer to the puzzling question – what makes mad honey "mad"? In this paper, I explore this idea from a few different perspectives in an attempt to get to the bottom of the global craze that surrounds the alluring nectar of the Himalayas. From the toxicology perspective, mad honey has unique properties from a neurotoxin, grayanotoxin 1 and 3 that cause the honey to be a deliriant. From a cultural perspective, mad honey is "mad" because of the extreme methods of harvesting or "hunting" that Indigenous groups partake in to get the honey which is sometimes used as medicine. Finally, from a more humanistic perspective, perhaps the only thing that makes mad honey "mad" is the Shangri-la idea that foreigners place on a country that has been a victim of orientalism for centuries.
Disciplines
Apiculture | Asian History | Asian Studies | Food Studies | Human Ecology | Other Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health
Recommended Citation
Farmer, Codi, "What Makes Mad Honey “Mad”? An Investigation into the Obsession of the Himalayan Wild Cliff Honey" (2022). Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection. 3571.
https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/3571
Included in
Apiculture Commons, Asian History Commons, Asian Studies Commons, Food Studies Commons, Human Ecology Commons, Other Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health Commons
Program Name
Nepal: Tibetan and Himalayan Peoples