Indigenous knowledge systems

May 17, 2011May 17, 2011

Nibbles, Menu edition: Garlic, Potatoes, Meat, Tomatoes, Ramps, Bananas, Chocolate, Coffee, Pepper breeding, Local cattle in RSA

Chicago, Chicago, it’s an edible town. Major urban centre named for edible wild species shock.
Drought-resistant potatoes! At least 1000 genes involved.
Test-tube burgers? ¹
Wild tomatoes and climate change. A meeting round-up from our chums at CIAT.
The appeal of fair trade bananas. A good read.
Technical Guidelines on the Safe Movement of Cacao Germplasm updated.
Coffee, please. A cup of your finest specialty variety.
Caribbean pepper breeders getting hot under the collar.
Gotta love the way Farm Radio Weekly not only has great stories about agrobiodiversity, but also handy background notes.

Well, that was fun.

May 15, 2011May 16, 2011

Nordic chefs exploring Nordic foods with Nordic genebank

I was intrigued by a reference to a genebank in a restaurant review in the Wall Street Journal. Not just any restaurant, but the best restaurant in the world, Noma in Copenhagen, which is “is best known for its fanatical approach to foraging.” Here’s the reference:

Noma helped found a Nordic Food Lab, which has a gene bank that is collating information about the wild products in the region.

Nordic Food Lab does indeed sound interesting (especially its fermentation trials):

Nordic Food Lab is a non-profit self-governed institution established by head chef of Noma, Rene Redzepi and gastronomic entrepreneur, Claus Meyer with the purpose of scientifically exploring the New Nordic Cuisine and disseminating results from this exploration.

But they’re not really establishing a genebank, as suggested by the WSJ piece.

We are collaborating with Nordgen, the amazing bank of genetic material, to evaluate the gastronomic potential of bygone varieties of Scandinavian produce. We will publish our sensory evaluations as they are completed. This promises to be an extremely interesting project; many modern species are produced on other merits besides flavor, and we expect intriguing findings.

Much more sensible.

nordgen — The entrance to NordGen (Nordic Genetic Resource Center) at Alnarp.

May 13, 2011May 14, 2011

Bananas on TV and the blogosphere

In Africa, political parties must stop using real banana leaves as their symbol at rallies or on buses…

Why? Pat Heslop-Harrison explains the reason, and much more, in a great new post at AoB Blog. The occasion is the 13 May edition of the BBC TV programme The One Show, which included an interview with Dr Heslop-Harrison by journalist, food critic and TV personality Jay Rayner. With links to a couple of freely available Annals of Botany papers and a presentation too.

LATER: Let’s not forget the importance of banana for brewing beer in parts of Africa.

May 11, 2011May 11, 2011

Nibbles: Beer in Sudan, Tea and pastoralism in Kenya, Iron in beans, Mediterranean diet

Sudanese beer-drinkers in trouble. Let my people go!
The future of tea in Kenya. Mother-in-law alerted.
Meanwhile, Kenyan pastoralists go back to the future.
Slideshow: “Combating hidden hunger through bio-fortification.” Beanz meanz ironz.
May is Mediterranean Diet Month. It is? I mean, who knew?

May 9, 2011May 9, 2011

Brainfood: Australian obesity, Pigeonpea blight, Chocolate spot, Agroforestry, Andean potato agriculture, Salinity tolerance, Tree migration, Tea

The Australian paradox: A substantial decline in sugars intake over the same timeframe that overweight and obesity have increased. Wait … there’s an Australian paradox too?
Phytophthora blight of Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.]: An updating review of biology, pathogenicity and disease management. The wild relatives are sources of resistance, but that won’t be enough.
Effects of crop mixtures on chocolate spot development on faba bean grown in mediterranean climates. Intercropping with cereals reduces the disease.
Combining high biodiversity with high yields in tropical agroforests. It can be done, for smallholder cacao in Indonesia.
And elsewhere … Cost benefit and livelihood impacts of agroforestry in Bangladesh. An entire book.
Resource concentration dilutes a key pest in indigenous potato agriculture. Monocropping can be sustainable. Via.
Community versus single-species distribution models for British plants. Overall, better stick with the single species kind, but it was worth a try.
Quantitative trait loci for salinity tolerance in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). They exist, and there are markers.
Climate, competition and connectivity affect future migration and ranges of European trees. Well, doh.
Quantifying carbon storage for tea plantations in China. All the tea in China…sequesters a lot of C. But plant type doesn’t count for much.