You may remember I blogged from a conference in Amman over a year ago. It was about how climate change would affect food security in the dry areas. Well, the conference proceedings has been out for a while, courtesy of ICARDA, but I only just found out about it. Lots of interesting stuff in there. Thanks, Colin.
Nibbles: Cuba, India, Kansas, Amazonia, Rice, Fonio, Rare breed
- A Cuban tells us what he thinks is wrong with Cuban agriculture.
- Rahul Goswami has two long, thoughtful articles, on how India’s next five year plan is not realistic about either food or urbanisation.
- And what’s worse in the US today, drought, or heat? Do we have to choose?
- Less than 1% of Amazonia is made of Terra Preta. Is that enough? I dunno, how about you?
- Wanna buy some rice? I wonder if African rice, heirlooms and endophytes will get a look-in.
- Better bread from minor African grains. Digitaria, that is.
- Dairy Shorthorn in trouble in the UK.
Food Vendor films
IRIN, “a service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs,” has launched a new series of short films.
The Food Vendor tells the story of staple foods in different countries around the world and sheds light on the problems faced by the world’s poor in light of rising food prices.
I watched the first one, on lentils in Nepal, and found it rather tasty, so I thought I would share it here. Alas, unless I’m missing a trick, that does not seem possible. I can download it alright, and share the link on other sites, but I cannot seem to embed the movie here. Too bad, I suppose.
And if you’re into artisanal food processing, just look at the way the woman carefully wet-grinds the lentils at the start of the film.
A banana is a banana
The identification of Musa paradisiaca with a plantain and Musa sapientum with a sweet banana probably reinforced the tendency to associate each name with a type of fruit, respectively plantain for the cooking types and banana for the sweet types. In fact this distinction is entirely semantic and artificial. It has no botanical basis, nor indeed any consistent culinary basis. A banana is a banana, whether it is cooked or eaten raw.
But you knew that, right? The quotation is taken from the Musapedia on the all-new, all-singing, all-dancing ProMusa website. So for more than you could possibly want to know about banana nomenclature, and much else besides, you now know where to go.
Now, just remind me, what is the difference between a banana and a plantain?
Vavilov on the Beeb
If you were intrigued by news of a BBC series on the history of botany, but could not see it because you don’t live in the UK, fear not, Jeremy has snipped out the bit about Vavilov that appeared in the third programme, which was all about crop breeding.