Cooking

Nibbles: Rice conservation and use, Tunisian genebank, Buno, Popcorn, Sustainability, Brazilian social networking, Strawberry breeding, Sunflower genomics, Climate change and fisheries

Lots of Indian rice in the IRRI genebank. Any of it being used to develop drought-tolerant varieties?
Lots of journalists in the Tunisian genebank.
How they make coffee in Ethiopia.
How they make popcorn the world over. You sometimes get popcorn (or popped sorghum) with coffee in Ethiopia, now I think of it. And since we’re on an Ethiopian kick, fancy some enjera? Gary Nabhan did.
“Productivity vs. sustainability is a ‘false choice.’” Well I never. And probably not news to these people either, or these. But to these guys?
A Twitter roundup from Embrapa.
Ugly hybrid of two wild strawberries may cause allergies.
Explanation of evolution of doubled genes in wild and cultivated sunflowers certainly causes pain in brain.
Some good climate change news for the Atlantic croaker. Being a glass-totally-empty kinda guy I predict it tastes like shit.

There are no origins in food.
Haitians get seeds. But of what kind(s)? Why not give some of them Carossier palm seeds to plant?
Afghans are incredible cannabis farmers.
Animals need traditional remedies too.

Got a Neotropical flowering plant to identify? Kew has what you need.
New Labour goes out with a whimper, and a swipe at cider-makers.
Drought Timing for Agronomic Screening wins a prize.
“We’ve heard about the Gene Bank project which serves to preserve certain cultivars and seed specimens, but we don’t know much else about this project.” Par for the course.
Meanwhile, another genebank does get decent publicity.
Women and homegardens in Bangladesh.
Bag farms in Nairobi slum.
Review of Dirt! The Movie.
Boffins this close to drought-tolerant cowpeas.
“…actual grain yield in some regions is already approximating its maximum possible yields while other regions show large yield gaps and therefore tentative larger potential for intensification.”
The wife is going to the 1st International Symposium on Tropical Horticulture. Jamaica? No, she really wanted to go.

Better sheep through information. From Australia, natch. Thanks, Dirk.
New Farming Matters out. When did this ILEIA magazine change its name? Remains essential reading anyway.
Some participants voice their expectations of the African Rice Congress.
A traditional Malawi meal.
Whole grain recipes.

Why We Love the Internet, volume 36. There’s a Flickr group on “Food products in the EU Protected Designation of Origin scheme.” Something we blogged about recently, as it happens. The map is really cool. Well, actually, the whole thing is cool.