Category: Vegetables

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South Africa turning its back on local greens?

Timbuktu Chronicles pointed me to an interesting allAfrica feature on the organic vegetable revolution sweeping around the edges of Cape Town under the leadership of some formidable grandmothers. Great that such a community-based movement is taking off and making a difference, of course. But it was a bit disappointing for me not to see much evidence in the text and photos that indigenous African vegetables are included in the mix. I know there are dedicated people promoting this neglected agrobiodiversity in South Africa. I’ve worked with some of them. Local leafy greens have become mainstream in countries like Kenya in the past few years: you can buy them nicely packaged in supermarkets now, which was certainly not the case when I lived there in the mid-90s. Is that not happening in South Africa? If not, why not? I hope someone out there can tell us.

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Fine beans

We just received a message from Christine, a reader in New Zealand, who hopes ultimately to do a roundup of seed-saving efforts down there for us. In the meantime, she has a question:

Yesterday I sowed Fin de Bagnol bean seeds, an heirloom French variety. As I did so I wondered what the name meant – it seemed strange to have ‘End’ in a seed name. I did a spot of googling to try and find an answer, but no luck.

Maybe you have a French contact who knows?

Indeed, maybe we do. Meantime, I think that fin in this case means “fine” or “slender” rather than “end”. There are other French beans with the same word; Deuil Fin Precoce for one, which is early (precocious).

So my guess is that this is a fine, slender bean of the Bagnols, but whether it is a Bagnol family, or the rather fine Château de Bagnols (which might be linked to the family) I cannot say. Probably the Château.

But maybe someone out there knows for sure.