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Pavlovsk update

The Associated Press had a big round-up on the threatened Russian genebank at Pavlovsk late last week. We’re linking to the version that appeared at the National Public Radio website because they used lots of photographs, many of which give the lie to statements that the land is not being used. Kudos to AP for doing some fresh reporting. Kudos also to Science magazine, for a report from a correspondent in Moscow. The article is behind a paywall.

We’re still not getting much news out of Russia herself. What exactly is going on, officially? And is anyone there blogging about it or otherwise commenting? If you know, please let us know.

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Fruit diversity in SE Europe

Fuad Gasi tells us about an interesting effort to document the diversity of fruits in the former Yugoslavia.

A new regional collaboration between the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Sarajevo and the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb has been established in the field of fruit (including Vitis) genetic resources. This collaboration is being strengthened through the SEEDNet project (South East European Network on Plant Genetic Resources) financed by SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency). So far, we have had a publication on apple genetic resources in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a result of this collaboration. We are currently preparing a similar publication on plum genetic resources that will present results of a study made on autochthonous plums from B&H, Croatia and Serbia, focusing mainly on different synonyms of Pozegaca, but not exclusively (molecular and morphological data, as well as some food processing qualities). Similar work has been done on the chestnut and is currently being done on the pear.

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Itadakimasu!

Just before digging in, whether it be a seven-course dinner or a sample at a supermarket, it’s polite to say “itadakimasu” (I will receive).

In Japan that is. But does it really just mean “I will receive”? According to my source on all things Japanese a fuller rendering would in fact be:

Thank you to everything and everyone involved in providing this food to me — the sun and the earth and the water for making it possible, the plants and animals that grew to be the food, the farmer who grew them and the person who took it to market and the person who sold it in the market and the person who bought it and the person who prepared the food and the person who laid the table, and everyone who enabled these people to play their part.

Does any other culture heap praise on the whole food system in this way at every snack and meal?