Category: Information

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Harlan II, day 1

From our man on the spot at Davis, Robert Hijmans.

It is only one day old, but the Harlan II symposium is the best I have been to for ages. That the subject is of some importance helps, of course. In his keynote speech, Jared Diamond called it nothing less than the most important event in the last million year of human history. Guess what, it has something to do with agrobiodiversity. It is plant and animal domestication, of course. Have a look at the program and you may understand that I am challenged to summarize the proceedings. But here are some impressions.

Domestication took a long time. Dorian Fuller summarized archaeological data to show that traits associated with domestication, such as non-shattering of grains, evolved slowly, over 1000s of years. Some speakers distinguished the initiation of cultivation from domestication. I had always thought of these two things as happening at the same time. But why not cultivate wild wheats, or rice? Benjamin Kilian showed data suggesting that wild einkorn was cultivated in Turkish parts of the Fertile Crescent. And Susan McCouch of Cornell University pointed out that, after 4000 years of cultivation, the common rice of West Africa, Oryza glaberrima is not domesticated yet: it still shatters. And I think there are many animal species that are not domesticated but that are nevertheless put to good use. Vicuña for example.

The question whether we domesticated plants or they domesticated us was not (yet) discussed, but there was reference to the self-domestication of dogs and cats. Robert Wayne showed that dogs were domesticated from Mediterranean grey wolves. But wolves are not very friendly to humans, how would you go about taming them? Wayne thinks that it was the wolves who approached our ancestors because they liked to eat the leftovers of their hunting parties. Over time, they may have lost some of their fear and aggression towards humans (obviously not realizing they would end up as chihuahuas). Likewise, cats may have approached ancient towns to catch some of the abundant mice in the granaries of the agricultural revolution.

Molecular biology rules. Remarkable progress is being made in analyzing the genetic make up of crops, the remains of ancient crops, and of crop wild relatives, to solve the puzzles of how our crops and domestic animals left their wild states. In some cases, this work leads to truly new insights in otherwise uncharted territory. In other cases, the molecular work confirms or refines insights that others had obtained from morphological, geographical, and archaeological data.

Even religion was invoked. John Burke explained that sunflower become a popular source of oil in Russia because it could be used during the Lent season, whereas all other sources of oil were on the black list of the Russian church. Gila Kahila Bar-Gal has put the insights from her ancient DNA work on archaeological remains of caprins (goat like creatures) to good use: she showed that the Dead Sea Scrolls were written on goat skin (not sheep). Unfortunately, there was also pieces of (wild) oryx skin — which is not kosher — but these were only used as wrapper; a relief.

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Nibbles: Art, Fish, Nut, Potato, Mellow fruitfulness, Camels, DNA chips, Agroecotourism, Urban ag

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I can’t believe it’s not meat/fish/eggs/a penis

Elizabeth Andoh, an American who has lived in Japan for 25 years, talks about “food that is not what it seems.” Modoki has nothing really to do with deception, it is all about having fun with your food. Links to Buddhist cuisine of China, vegetarian and vegan stuff, often made to resemble stuff that did have the potential for life.

There is an ancient Japanese book called “100 things to do with tofu.”

She shows a picture of real eel (I’m not getting the names, thanks to the PA) and then a fake (modoki) that is visually identical, down to the surface look of the “fish”. Gobo (burdock root) and lotus root help the whole thing to stick together.

“You have to have keen powers of observation and to take into consideration texture even more than taste. Truly, if you closed your eyes, you would think you were eating eel.”

Now we’re onto Ganmodoki, which is a version of goose meatballs, no goose meat.

“Soy milk skins sound like something even a dermatologist doesn’t want to know about.” They have a wonderful unctuous texture and a creamy feel in your mouth. They perish easily, and are dried, but can be resuscitated by wrapping in a damp cloth. Resemble a thin omelette, an impression that can be enhanced by adding the dried seeds (or buds?) of a gardenia, which “bleed an intense neon yellow”. The end result can be shredded and used as “eggs” in other dishes.

Pseudo-chestnuts made of fish and shellfish meat and fried noodles with a whole-roast chestnut poked inside, provoking a memory of the whole chestnut.

A teeny tiny persimmon made from a dyed quail’s egg with a piece of kombu stuck to the top.

One of the elements in modoki is sheets of daikon radish, which take an amazing amount of skill to make: watch this.

A perfect segue into Michelle Toratani, who takes the floor to talk about a very particular individual daikon, “the fighting root”. A very bizarre story.

How did a vegetable root become a super-hero? Because it is such an important daily vegetable in Japanese life. People can really identify with it.

On to the proper stuff. Daikon originated in China, came to Japan about 1000 years ago. There are about 100 regional varieties of daikon. Don’t have to be white, can be red or deep purple.

Frankly, there’s so much here about the daikon in culture (some of which Luigi nibbled), that I really don’t want to get into here on a Sunday morning. See for yourself. Or Google Daikon Penis.

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An Indian view of Indian markets

Krina Patel talks about Sustainability and Traditional Vegetable Markets in India. Got suddenly interested in the local market in her parents’ home town, and is worried about how these will survive in the modern India. There are three markets in the town. One in the old town. One right outside the main temple, “so that vegetable shopping becomes a daily ritual, a little like praying”. One a wholesale market. There is a three-way relationship at the market: you, the product and the seller. That becomes a long-term relationship that is the basis of culinary tradition.

As in Italy, vendors will give you a little bunch of basic ingredients for free, “which cements the relationship”.

Medical and health concerns are intertwined in the market, where vendors mix practical and ayurvedic advice. “You should not eat okra at this time, because it is very expensive. But also it is not very good for you.”

A new mall is being built, with a vegetables section where produce will be sold all day, threatening to destroy the markets and the relationships. Big corporations are already buying up produce direct from the farmers, which is reducing the amount that comes to the markets. “The okra will be available in Paris, but not locally.”

A questioner uses “weekend” as a verb! “The town in upstate New York I weekend in.”

Sami Zubaida raises the notion that a large part of the basis of civilization is global food exchange, and that while he buys into the notion of the local, he wants to ensure that we remain open to the global.

Which seems kind of obvious. But still, a minor wrangle develops over local market versus supermarket, and, despite the prevalence of historians, nobody raises the exchange of foodstuffs in historical times.