- Trace chemicals in Chinese dog bones from 7-8K years ago suggest a diet high in millet, and therefore its cultivation.
- Maize origins pushed back and down.
- A new cowpea system, including faster varieties, being tried out in Niger.
- It’s spring, and Italians’ thoughts starting to turn to eating weeds.
- “…his 3 wives and 20 children depend on the water melon business as means of livelihood.”
Neat rum
There’s only one rum that can put Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) on its label, apparently. It is Martinique’s Rhum Agricole, and it has a fascinating history. Via.
An American in Taiwan
Joel Haas is an American author and sculptor. He’s traveling in Taiwan at the moment, and writing about it online. I don’t think he has a particular interest in agrobiodiversity, but maybe I’m wrong, because there are many engaging observations on useful wild plants, crops and food in his posts and numerous photos.
Nibbles: Beer, Alice Walters, Soils, Coconuts
- Cassava beer: what’s not to like?
- A food guru speaks. We listen.
- “By 2020, 30% of the world’s arable land may be salinated.”
- A coconut renaissance in India?
Rice vs millet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmHUsVlc8yY
We’ve mentioned before the efforts to support millet cultivation among the Hill Tribes of India. There’s even a BBC documentary about the work. The above video is not from the Kolli Hills, but the problem it illustrates is the same. Rice subsidies and mining are threatening the way of life of the Dongria Kondh.
Living Farms works with them to ensure availability of food for the entire year. This is being done by re-establishing their traditional farming system, by conserving the biodiversity of millet and uncultivated food.