"The Serviceberry" Is an Ode to Gift Economies

Robin Wall Kimmerer's follow-up to the much-lauded "Braiding Sweetgrass" offers a tonic in a world of consumption

By Rhoda Feng

January 27, 2025

The Serviceberry

“To name the world as gift is to feel your membership in the web of reciprocity,” Robin Wall Kimmerer writes in her emotionally resonant new book, The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World (Scribner, 2024). A follow-up to her best-selling Braiding Sweetgrass, the book is a psalm for the natural world and a profound exploration of how we can reframe our relationship with nature and with others through gift economies.

The serviceberry, a “calendar plant,” is both muse and metaphor for Kimmerer, a botanist and a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. In prose at once lyrical and authoritative, she explains the berry’s significance: The “shiny gem” sustains biodiversity and has historically synchronized the seasonal activities of Indigenous peoples, marking the time for harvesting, hunting, fishing, and gathering other essential resources. The fruit “tastes like a Blueberry crossed with the satisfying heft of an Apple, a touch of rosewater, and a minuscule crunch of almond-flavored seeds. They taste like nothing a grocery store has to offer: wild, complex with a flavor that your body recognizes as the real food it’s been waiting for.”

In short, essayistic sections interleaved with field-note-style drawings by John Burgoyne, Kimmerer makes an impassioned case for a “serviceberry economy.” This concept can be seen in Indigenous traditions, such as the Potawatomi’s giveaway ceremonies and the Pacific Northwest societies’ potlatches, which emphasize community, sharing, and sustainability, as opposed to the emptiness capitalism fosters.

Kimmerer’s blend of scientific observation, memoir, and philosophical reflection makes The Serviceberry a compelling read that transcends mere ecological treatise. As our planet grapples with environmental challenges, Kimmerer’s vision of a non­extractive, reciprocal relationship with nature offers a necessary alternative.