AGUILAR MELENDEZ, ARACELI

She grew up in multiethnic environments rich in food cultures. She holds a BSc in Biology from the Universidad Veracruzana and a PhD in Plant Biology from the University of California, USA. From an ethnobotanical perspective, her research focuses on the management, production, and diversified use of chiles (Capsicum spp.) across different ecosystems of contemporary multiethnic Mexico. She actively practices interdisciplinary research. She is also interested in understanding past relationships between early human populations and chiles at the onset of the Capsicum domestication process in Mesoamerica, a topic published in PNAS (2024). As a collaborating editor, she co-edited Los chiles que le dan sabor al mundo and Chiles en México: Historias, culturas y ambientes, both recipients of Gourmand Awards (France). She received the Mid-Career Excellence Award 2025 from the Society for Ethnobotany. She collaborates with PALOC (IRD–MNHN–CNRS) in France.