Author: Jeremy Cherfas

Originally published on 20 October, updated 29 October (at the end).

I was very privileged to be invited to judge entries in the 6th annual audiovisual festival of biodiversity, organized by Crocevia, an Italian NGO. My own personal favourite was a Dutch film called Eeuwige moes. As I said in my comments, the film “was beautifully photographed and lit, and conveyed not only the beauty of agricultural biodiversity, but also the passion with which some people approach its conservation. At its heart, the film was a mystery that remained unsolved, and that made it very thought-provoking”.

Don’t just take my word for it, though. Take a look at this clip.

The bigger mystery, however, is the film’s title. The director translates it as “Eternal Mash”. But that doesn’t really mean anything in English. After the judging I spoke to Daniel, a young Dutch film-maker who helped organize the festival as a volunteer. I explained my difficulties, and he explained that moes had something of the connotation of the huge diversity and range of plants that grew. I didn’t really get it. But I did wonder about possible connections between a moes and a mess (of pottage).

The problem surfaced again today, and I did a little asking around, although no answers have arrived yet. I also did some additional Googling, and came up with this:

Eeuwige Moes, ook wel splijtkool, splijtmoes of stekkool genoemd, is een type kool (Brassica oleracea var ramosa) dat sinds lange tijd in Limburg wordt geteeld.

My Dutch isn’t brilliant, but my vegetal Latin is just dandy, and it seems to me that this is talking about a perpetual kale. In fact, “eeuwige moes, also known as split cabbage (?), split mash (?) or cutting cabbage, is a type of cabbage (Brassica oleracea var ramosa) has long been grown in Limburg”. Reading on, I gather that it is ready for eating very early in the year, and that the leaves are made often into a purée (moes sometimes translates (mechanically) as purée.)

Now, I feel, we’re getting somewhere. Not very far, but somewhere. If eeuwige moes really is the name of an old traditional crop plant, rather like, say, Hungry Gap kale then perhaps using it as the title of the film conveys layers of meaning that cannot begin to be captured by Endless Mash. If so, what the film-makers — and the rest of us — desperately need is someone who both understands Dutch and, perhaps more importantly, the nature of the passion for saving seeds and diversity that is the core of the film. They should watch the film and then we might be able to have a discussion about what it ought to be called in English. A simple translation clearly won’t do.

Later … After lots of useful input, not all of it in the comments, I’m convinced that Moes does indeed carry a significant freight baggage. And I believe that the kinds of ideas the Dutch title conveys might be better conveyed by something like “Eternal Leaf”. Let English-speaking viewers make the connection between Leaf and Life themselves. Anyway, it’s just a thought.