The famous British apple collection at Brogdale in Kent, which has been through some vicissitudes this past year, and could do with some good news, is being replanted, and the BBC has a video. Incidentally, I recently learned that the composer Gerald Finzi assembled a selection of heirloom varieties at his country house, Church Farm, Ashmansworth, near Newbury, Berkshire, and that these are included in the national collection at Brogdale, or at least they were. I hope they still are, because Church Farm has been on the market and who knows if the new owner is interested in the likes of Russet, Roxbury Russet, Welford Park Nonsuch, Baxter’s Pearmain, Golden Non Pareil, Mead’s Broading, Norman’s Pippin and Haggerstone Pippin.
Parmigiano Reggiano on the wheel
I’m not sure how widely known it is that the two recent earthquakes in northern Italy, apart from the tragic loss of life, destruction of homes and damage to historical buildings, are also likely to have a significant effect on livelihoods, and not least because of the impact on the production of the iconic cheese of the region, Parmigiano Reggiano. From the Facebook fan page of the consortium of producers, I see that 24 firms are affected, for a total of 300,000 40kg wheels damaged, or 10% of production. The advice of the Consorzio del Parmigiano Reggiano for those who would like to help is to keep buying the stuff. No need to ask me twice.
Mike Jackson OBE
And we interrupt our holidays again for an important announcement. Dr Mike Jackson, who worked at IRRI for some two decades, much of that in the genebank, has been awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours List. Congratulations, Mike!
Mercado Jamaica, Mexico City, Again
Mexican dog brainfood
What’s that they say about a little knowledge? I knew the Aztecs ate dogs. I knew they kept a hairless breed of dog. So I naturally assumed they bred the hairless breed for food. So much more convenient not having to deal with all that hair in the kitchen.
Wrong. I’m sure there’s a name for this kind of logical fallacy. Be that as it may, a recent visit to the Dolores Olmedo Patiño Museum, in Xochimilco, Mexico City, where they keep a pack of that hairless breed, which is called Xoloitzcuintle by the way, quickly disabused me. A notice there points out that the name Xoloitzcuintle makes reference to Xolotl, a god associated with death (among other things). Dogs were supposed to accompany the dead on their way to the next world. Not the done thing to eat them, then, surely. It must have been other breeds that were eaten.
Well, maybe. The Wikipedia article on Xolotl says that “the meat of the Xoloitzcuintle was very much part of the diet of some of the ancient peoples of the region.” There’s no reference for that, though. What seems clear is that there were, indeed, other dog breeds. Many of the representations of dogs don’t really look like the Xoloitzcuintle at all. Squatter and fatter. Dare I say it? Jucier. There are many of them, mainly in pottery, at the museum, though I was not allowed to photograph the ones indoors.
Diego Rivera seems to have had a thing about Aztec dogs, by the way. He painted them a number of times. Here’s an example from the Palacio Nacional mural. Interestingly, though, they look a lot more like the pottery pieces than the actual Xoloitzcuintle specimens roaming around the gardens of his friend Dolores’ house.
