- Oh no. Hessian flies are becoming resistant to hessian fly-resistant wheats.
- Coconuts! An Indian perspective.
Nibbles: Dog, Beer, Human Planet, Entomophagy, Food Atlas, Pepper, Barley
- When dog was on the menu.
- Going far, and far back, for beer. And indeed yeast. Always worth the effort.
- BBC launches Human Planet, focusing on “man’s remarkable relationship with the natural world.” Which apparently doesn’t include agriculture.
- Mexicans eat many moth species, and not just the larvae.
- Amazing interactive food atlas for the US. wish I had a use for it, but someone surely does.
- Breeding a “better” Jalapeño pepper — to hold more cheese, natcho.
- Food as politics; the tsampa-eaters of the TAR. h/t GOOD.
Nibbles: Heiser & Chambers, Quinoa, Books, Grafting eggplants, Vitamin D, Pitaya, Cassava, Beetroot, Worldwatch, BBSRC
- Celebrating Charles Heiser and Bob Chambers.
- Quinoa coming into its own in Bolivia.
- Earthscan and Bioversity International team up for new Issues in Agricultural Biodiversity book series.
- Crop wild relatives not just useful to breeders, eggplant edition.
- Vitamin D 101 in pictures.
- Improving pitaya.
- Cassava production trends in Africa in 28 slides. Twenty slides too many, but it’s always good to have the data.
- Beetroot’s colour deconstructed.
- Worldwatch’s 2011 State of the World was released yesterday. Gives a “compelling look at the global food crisis, with particular emphasis on global innovations that can help solve a worldwide problem.” At $19.95 a pop. But supporting material available. Here comes the commentary.
- The genebank at the UK’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council gets its 15 minutes of fame.
Nuts for pears
A funny thing happened to Dave Arnold on his globe-trotting effort to sample the apples of the world: he got waylaid by the pears. What happened next is the subject of a truly wonderful blog post that highlights his enthusiasm and ability to convey subtleties of the eating experience. Not bad for a chap who “helps chefs achieve their most ambitious goals using new technologies, techniques, and ingredients … including sous vide and hydrocolloids”. But of course, a trained mind and a trained palate can tackle anything, to whit:
- Cayuga … tasted of Nik-L-Nips ((Whatever they are. Ed.))
- Hermansverk 1/1 tasted of canned black California olives
- Perdue 41 was a dead ringer for giant water-bug essence
Seriously, this is a tour de force, and you know we don’t use that term lightly. The tragedy is that Brogdale makes next to no use of its riches.
Nibbles: Old fruit, Same fruit, Fruit juice, Dog breeding, Plant Cuttings, Seed storage, Romanian cattle breeds
- REALLY old fruit found in Chinese cellar.
- Marufo the same as Brujidera? Say it ain’t so!
- Rachel Laudan deconstructs a French depiction of cider-making. Well, someone had to.
- Genetic modification dates back to ancient Mexico.
- Rejoice, Plant Cuttings is out!
- Seeds of alpine plants don’t live as long as those of lower altitudes. So how many crop wild relatives are high-altitude species I wonder?
- Get your teeth into the work of the Transylvanian Rare Breeds Association.