- Saving Dhofar’s frankincense tree. Evocative things they are too.
- The rich may have trouble getting into heaven, but they manage more agrobiodiversity. At least of rice. At least in Nepal.
- Gotta be careful with niche modeling in mountain areas. Well, duh.
- New Pacific food leaflets from SPC.
- Ok, how weird is it that I have a personal connection of sorts to all of the above? Probably not much.
- Ex situ not enough for wild rice. Say it ain’t so!
- The evolution of coffee.
- “If the rains do not fall we may face problems with certain crops.” Right.
- Network on natural fibres proposed by Industree Craft Foundation and the Commonwealth Secretariat. Sounds like fun.
- Screening lactic acid strains for sorghum beer making. Well, kinda. Somebody please fund this vital research!
A trifecta of fishy stories
Lots of fish stuff on the tubes today, mainly from the CITES conference in Doha. There’s of course news of the rejection of the proposed ban on bluefin tuna. But the beluga is also in trouble. Why are such fish threatened? Increasing consumer demand large, predatory — and therefore rarer — species, says a study.
A study of a century’s worth of seafood recipes has revealed that big, predatory fish like salmon and tuna have grown in prestige, even as overfishing has caused their populations to plummet – sometimes to the point of endangerment.
Time for a move back down the food chain.
Nibbles: Yucca, Biofuels, Indian food, Museum collections, Priority traits, GM bananas, Geographic targetting
- Yucca flowers not at all yucky to eat.
- Dept of Schadenfreude: First parasitic nematodes reported in biofuel crops.
- “I’ve often thought about this return to local knowledge and food in India.” Had no idea there had been a move away from local food in India.
- Biological collections porn.
- Breeders’ wish list published.
- First GM bananas harvested. Do they make good beer?
- How to do Geographical Extrapolation Domain Analysis. Off you go now.
Chicks with chicks
Proud to steal a great phrase when I find one, here are links to the original and two discussion — at Ethicurean and The Agricultural Law Blog — of a recent article on The Femivore’s Dilemma, about the prevalence of women in the new old food movement. Of course to my literal mind a femivore is one who eats females ((And you can stop giggling in the back right now.)) which, of course is generally what we do. Either females or ex-males. But the more profound ideas behind the article and the commentaries are fascinating. Personally, I’m not sure that there really is a gender divide, and it would be salutary to see this in a global context. Which gives me a reason to link to this little contribution to International Women’s Day last week.
Nibbles: School Gardens, Foods
- School gardens. Ho hum. In Uruguay!
- 10 foods for the future. Yeah, if you can’t tell the difference between 1 and 9. Or 2 and 7.