An article on an NBC website explains that Michelle Obama’s White House Garden contains lots of varieties from Thomas Jefferson’s gardens at Monticello, in nearby Virginia. Jefferson’s memory has accreted a whole lot of factoids, but it is undeniable that he was keenly interested in agricultural biodiversity and tried all sorts of things out at Monticello, many of them new to the new country. He also most famously said:
“The greatest service which can be rendered any country is to add a useful plant to its [agri]culture.”
Michelle’s example is surely inspiring different behaviour to do with gardening and eating, not to mention edible diversity. So just think what a message it would send if she grew some of the local traditional vegetables of hubby Barack’s native Kenya? These crops were long neglected by rural and urban dwellers alike because they were perceived as backward? They are slowly making a comeback, thanks in part to celebrity endorsements. An endorsement by the Obamas would top them all.
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