- Remembering Robert Rhoades.
- Fenugreek 101.
- Plant nutrition experts on why plant nutrition is important for development.
- Nigel Chaffey rounds up botanical news. Best of its kind.
- Lois Englberger and others comment on that provocative vitamin A paper.
- Hey, did you know it was Insect Week?
- Olivia Judson on yeast.
- Welcome to Terralingua’s Portal on Biocultural Diversity Conservation!
Nibbles: Haitian mangoes, Dog bones, Vitis in Georgia, Lavandula in Tunisia, Pistacia in Chios, Rice wine in Korea, Nutella, Mozzarella, Gloucester Old Spot, Cowpea
- Buy Haiti’s Francis mangoes!
- The Muge dog was, in fact, a dog.
- Looking at the grapevine in its center of origin.
- Need to fence lavender populations in Tunisia to protect them.
- More Mediterranean stuff. History of the mastic trade in an Aegean island.
- Making “drunken rice” in Korea. Sign me up.
- Nutella to come with warning label? Jeremy says: We don’t need no nanny state!
- Bluish mozzarella balls confiscated. Jeremy says: Ok, maybe we do after all.
- EU makes itself useful and protects bacon pig of choice, with built-in apple sauce to boot.
- “…finding how the physical and chemical composition of different cowpea varieties influence human health, reduce obesity and prevent diseases like cancer, hypertension and heart related ailments.”
Nibbles: Maize, Millets, Pollinators, Ungulates, Drugs, Orchids
- Long article on the politics (and more) of maize in Mexico.
- Yet more on the slow comeback of millets in (parts of) India.
- International Conference on Pollinator Biology, Health and Policy on July 24-28, 2010 at Penn State.
- Hunted ungulates are semi-domesticated.
- “…psychoactive plant toxins were a mundane occurrence in the environments of hominid evolution, and our ancestors may have been exploiting plant drugs for very long periods of time.”
- “I was confronted with centrefolds showing downy, smooth petals and moistened, hot-pink lips that pouted in the direction of tautly curved shafts and heavily veined pouches.”
Nibbles: Protected areas, Sturgeon, Geographic indications, Ugandan yams, Tomato controversy, Maya agriculture, Alternatives to slash-and-burn, Asian veggies, Food composition
- Bird people say: Critical migratory waterbird sites need urgent protection. Tomato and potato crop wild relative people say: What, only the critical ones? You’re lucky, mate!
- Toffs everywhere start stocking up on caviar.
- Tequila and cheese geographically indicated. Foie gras says: Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.
- Uganda Government minister says yams cause cancer. Oh, come now, steady on.
- Are Tomatoes Fruits or Vegetables? Asks mental_floss. Oh no, I’m not going there, says me.
- “…where there is a market, the Maya will work to develop supply capability; where there is no market, traditional subsistence methods are better than the introductions.”
- Building a better slash-and-burn agriculture.
- Nice Asian greens. I’m hungry already.
- Crop Composition Database gets facelift.
Ancient candy bars waiting to be rediscovered
It was something of a throw-away comment in the paper on the Kibale protected area in Uganda which I blogged about recently:
Tribes knew of coffee’s stimulant properties and mixed crushed coffee beans with animal fat to create “iron rations” used by warriors and travelers on long journeys (McCoy & Walker 1991). ((McCoy, E., and J. F. Walker. 1991. Coffee and tea. 3rd edition. Raines & Raines, New York.)) In the KNP region, coffee beans were used in blood rituals and in the ceremonies of Toro kings.
It piqued my interest, but I did nothing about it. But then, as often happens, I came across a slew of similar things, such as this write-up for a “new” kind of candy bar. And then a reference in a discussion about how cacao was consumed by the Maya:
Sometimes the Maya mixed the cacao with cornmeal to create a tightly packed material, almost like a hockey puck, that was more transportable. That’s how they stored it. There are texts that say it ended up being stolen by enemies since it was very highly valued. It was also taken by the warriors when they went to their next job, if you will. When they were on the go, they’d just take these things out of their pockets and eat some. They were like early energy bars!
Now there’s a topic for someone’s dissertation. Are there also examples of ancient energy bars using tea, qat, or coca, for example?