Food Plants International (FPI)

Qui sommes-nous

Food Plants International was formally established in 1999, but its origins go back to the 1970’s. Bruce French, founder of FPI, was living in Papua New Guinea at the time and noticed that many villagers suffered disease and malnutrition, often while surrounded by nutritious food plants. From these humble beginnings, Bruce set out to document the food plants of Papua New Guinea, an effort that soon spread to include the entire world of food plants.
The people who make up FPI are based in Tasmania, Australia. We are all volunteers who wish to make a difference to the three billion people of the world whose most important concern each day is having enough nutritious food to eat.

Food Plants International (FPI) is a christian not-for-profit organisation that aims to provide information about edible plants with the objective of helping the hungry feed themselves through strategic use of God’s amazing natural resources.

Our goal is to provide information that enables people to choose the right plant for their environment, to give them stable food production and a greater choice of plants to enrich their diets and improve their nutritional wellbeing.

This is a project undertaken by a group of Christians who want to be good stewards of God’s world, provide practical information to help hungry people feed themselves and to put their faith into action. It is targeted towards rural producers in the tropical world where there are a large number of poorly documented and underutilised local plants. Local plants suit local conditions and are therefore more sustainable. As well, many are highly nutritious and very tasty.

Our Database
There are a huge number of undervalued and overlooked food plants in the world. The FPI database provides accessible information about these plants to support production of locally relevant and nutritious food, and enable people to appropriately value their local foods. The searchable database has information on scientific name, genus, common names, synonyms, plant description, production and use notes, nutritional value, pictures and references.

Friends of Food Plants International (FoFPI) is a partner organisation which provides support and collaborates with Food Plants International (FPI), the world’s largest food plant database www.foodplantsinternational.com. FPI works to encourage, empower and facilitate the use of local food plants and increased dietary diversity. The FPI resources are used, acknowledged and esteemed by the global scientific community while remaining accessible and simple.
Members of FoFPI can assist with promotion, networking, advocacy, educational resources, posters, photography and a whole range of other varied and practical support.

Anthea Maynard is the Coordinator of networking & volunteers of Food Plants International (FPI).

For other net participants we can offer an expert guidance through trained staff, give an expert opinion, procure expert information and establish new contacts in the field of our work.