Cooking – Page 11 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

July 5, 2022July 5, 2022

Nibbles: Animal genebanks, Wild pigeon, Uganda genebank, Biodiversity value, W African cooking, Indigenous cafes, Climate crisis & food, Reforestation

FAO webinar series on animal genebanks.
Quick put this wild pigeon in a genebank before it’s too late. No, really.
Yeah but how much is a wild pigeon worth?
Maybe if you could cook it, it might be worth more? No, really, I’m serious.
Would be terrible to have a wild pigeon shortage.
In fact, we need to be able to re-pigeon.

June 28, 2022June 28, 2022

Nibbles: Ag & biodiversity, Sattu, African crops, New rice, Maya religion

Good roundup of the latest thinking on land sharing vs sparing.
Hummus is not the only thing to use chickpeas for: you can also make sattu sherbert.
Africa looks to fonio. Again.
A new, uniquely high-protein, low-glycemic index rice.
The Maya Maize God’s sacrifice was re-enacted in a cave. And if you want more background, do listen to this fabulous podcast on the Popol Vuh.

Nibbles: Breadfruit, Cryo, Svalbard poem, Mustard, Ancient diets, Hopi seeds, Aztec houses, Invasives

Your regular reminder that breadfruit could be used a lot more.
Your regular reminder that cryo could be used a lot more in conservation.
Your regular reminder that Indigenous knowledge could be used a lot more.
Your regular reminder that the Svalbard Global Seed Vault could be used a lot more.
Your regular reminder that climate change is getting personal.
Your regular reminder that ancient people weren’t stupid. At all.
Your regular reminder that invasive species are a big problem.

May 16, 2022May 13, 2022

Brainfood: Landrace gaps, Musa gaps, Teff use, Wheat evolution, NUS services, Phenotyping, Harappan residues, Food trade

State of ex situ conservation of landrace groups of 25 major crops. Two thirds done, on average, at least by this measure, with these data.
Phylogeography and conservation gaps of Musa balbisiana Colla genetic diversity revealed by microsatellite markers. But of course there are always other ways of doing it.
Value of teff (Eragrostis tef) genetic resources to support breeding for conventional and smallholder farming: a review. An example of why doing the above for all crops is important.
Evolution and origin of bread wheat. Another example. But the B genome remains elusive.
Diversity and Diversification: Ecosystem Services Derived From Underutilized Crops and Their Co-benefits for Sustainable Agricultural Landscapes and Resilient Food Systems in Africa. So many services. And yet…
Crop phenotyping in a context of global change: What to measure and how to do it. So many toys.
Integrating Lipid and Starch Grain Analyses From Pottery Vessels to Explore Prehistoric Foodways in Northern Gujarat, India. And more toys. They made biodiverse stews in the Indus Valley Civilization.
International food trade benefits biodiversity and food security in low-income countries. Low-income, very biodiverse countries are importing more food, which is somehow good for biodiversity. No word on its effect on agrobiodiversity.

May 5, 2022May 5, 2022

Nibbles: New Indian genebank, Bremji Kul conservation, Ugandan cassava, Chicago heirloom tomato guy, Malawi root & tuber value chains, Wild harvested plants report, Indigenous oyster harvesting, The Recipes Project

Maharashtra to set up a genebank, but definitely NOT the nation’s first.
Meanwhile, in Kashmir…
Let them eat cassava cake.
Minor roots and tubers not so minor in Malawi. Cassava unavailable for comment.
Area man shares heirloom tomatoes. Not many people hurt.
How to make the most, sustainably, of 12 wild-harvested plant species. According to FAO.
Indigenous peoples have been harvesting oysters sustainably for millennia.
The wonderful Plant Humanities Initiative does recipes.

1. What has agrobiodiversity ever done for us? Kent Nnadozie of the Plant Treaty lays it out.
2. Michael Frei of the HealthyDiets4Africa project doesn’t need it laid out.
3. Neither do the people who awarded a prize to Charlotte Allender of the UK Vegetable Genebank.
4. What has the US National Plant Germplasm System ever done for anyone? The Guardian, the NY Times and NPR News lay it out. I guess someone in D.C. needs it laid out, but will it make any difference?
5. Everyone: Potatoes in Florida! Breeders: No problem. NPGS: You called?
6. Here’s The Guardian again, but this time thinking it is making the case for not putting seeds in the fridge, whereas in fact it’s making the case for the complementarity of ex situ and on-farm conservation.
7. Speaking of on-farm conservation, here’s a couple of pieces on community seed banks in Guatemala.
8. Speaking of on-farm conservation, here’s the heart-warming story of Welsh organic farmer Gerald Miles.
9. Meanwhile, the World Vegetable Centre opens a new genebank.
10. And Türkiye hosts an international, no less, olive genebank.
11. And genebanks can be so beautiful, like works of art. Former Tate Modern director Vicente Todolí lays out his citrus samples. I wonder what he could do with olives.
12. Botanic gardens are beautiful and often act a little bit like crop genebanks. Here’s an example from Portugal I stumbled onto recently, I forget how.
13. You know what I’d like to see? An international pepper genebank, that’s what. No, not the kind that might be in those Guatemalan community seedbanks or the WorldVeg genebank. This sort of pepper. Piper pepper.
14. I bet the ancient Egyptians had pepper. Egyptian archaeologist Mennat-Allah El Dorry lays out what else they had.
15. Maybe you could lay out world history using pepper. You can definitely do so using cacao and chocolate.
16. No, not using ancient DNA, but actually…
Published on April 4, 2025