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Choose more varieties of food. |
Choose more varieties of food.
Earth provides an astounding variety of edible life forms. Do you know what a red daikon is? Have you ever heard of feijoa? Yet collectively we’re putting all our eggs in a few genetic baskets. Three quarters of the world’s food comes from seven crops (wheat, rice, corn, potato, barley, cassava, and sorghum).
Help preserve food biodiversity! Choose more varieties to encourage farmers to grow a wider range of fruits, grains, and vegetables. Eater-based conservation! Besides, we love the names of the varieties we’ve discovered. Look for Pink Ladies, Cameos, Criterions, Jonagolds, and other varieties of apples; Yukon Gold, Kennebec, Norkotah, Shepody, and Makah ozette potatoes. Tomatoes come with the wonderful names of Sun Gold, Stupice, Black Prince, Green Zebra, Earl of Edgecombe, and Costoluto Genovese. The Rutgers Agricultural Extension Service ran a taste test of heirloom tomatoes and discovered the crowd favorites: Cherokee Purple, Mortgage Lifter (!), Eva Purple Ball, Arkansas Traveler, Box Car Willie, and Snow White.
Not long ago, kiwis were unknown in America (except to a few people who called them Chinese gooseberries). Now they are familiar fruits. Let’s do the same with Brandywine tomatoes, Isis Candy tomatoes, Sebago potatoes, Criterion apples, and more.