Changing Times: History and Botanical Science in America

by: Eddie C

Sat Feb 12, 2011 at 03:38:48 AM PST

Recently I attended a New York Botanical Garden lecture "Briefings From the Field: The Frontiers of Plant Discovery and Conservation." Field studies are more exciting than you would expect. The first time I was invited to hear these Indiana Jones type stories that range from Ewok lifestyles in the treetops of Costa Rica to high-water adventures on the "Amazon Queen" was back in 1987.

In those few years there have been big changes in both science and the interactions with governments and industry to report. From 1987 when tropical rain forest covered only six percent of the earth's land surface to now with only five percent left, the stories were less about adventure and more about political advances scientist are making in the conservation mission.

Below the fold are some of the facts I learned at this year's lecture, either advances in an improving landscape or a last ditch effort to save biodiversity, you decide.  

Just Looking

by: Eddie C

Sun Nov 21, 2010 at 22:45:51 PM PST

I have a few pleasant photography stories to tell from a week ago. Between the autumn color and the desperation of one last warm weather week, it was a good week for a photo buff. Now don't go busting my bubble by just looking at the photos because you can learn a lot from a photographer. We see things.

Below you will find a Third Rock from the Sun brief encounter during an evening walk in the Village. I have several memories from a lecture I attended on photojournalism. There is a pleasant Veterans Day walk under the George Washington Bridge on the New Jersey side followed by a sunset from the New York side. Then a Friday afternoon walk in Central Park with some music videos I made and all day Saturday there too. There is even a little taste of Florence, Italy.  

"You Don't Have to be Jewish..."

by: Eddie C

Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 14:11:22 PM PDT

Not only is rye the most popular type of bread in Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark, Poland, Slovakia, and Russia, it has been a staple since long before the discovery of the Americas. In a bread timeline, dark rye even made it to the British Islands as early as 500 AD. "Since the Middle Ages, rye has been widely cultivated in Central and Eastern Europe, and is the main bread cereal in most areas east of the French-German border and north of Hungary." A year and two days ago I wrote a cute little diary called The Irish and Our Potatoes that mentioned the Holy Roman Empire being upset when those first Spanish explorers came back with starchy spuds to compete with the Staff of Life. By that time the "Body of Christ" being threatened by the lowly potato was mostly rye bread.

I remember a time when rye bread didn't seem the least bit Jewish. It didn't even seem like New York bread because I walked to either the French or the German Bakery, watched the fresh bread go through the automatic slicer and always ate both ends as I walked home. I remember when rye bread began an association with the Brooklyn Jewish community and it is a cute story, a progressive story even.

Rye bread going Jewish had much more to do with Madison Ave. than Flatbush Ave. It was and still is an advertisement. Rye bread is a New York City tourist attraction. The Stage Deli advertises their slogan next to a mile high fresser in the hotel magazines. At the competition, the late great Leo Steiner, co-owner of the Carnegie Deli, the corned beef cornball comedian and the public face of Jewish food who was was eulogized by Henny Youngman as "the deli lama" and a man who "made New York taste good," appeared in one of the great New York nostalgia commercials. In that television commercial, from behind the Carnegie counter Leo Steiner sold Levi's Real Jewish Rye by saying in an accent that would make Jackie Mason jealous "It makes a nice samwich." Perhaps that is why Jackie Mason defected in the 7th Ave. Pastrami Feud.

This story of progressive advertising began long before the Carnegie vs. Stage wars, back in the days when Leo Steiner was still working in his parents' grocery store in Elizabeth, N.J. It was in 1961 when rye bread converted to Judaism.  

How the British Empire Starved Millions of Indians - And Why It Is Still Important Today

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Nov 25, 2009 at 21:05:15 PM PST

As it turns out, once upon a time, India could feed itself. The book Late Victorian Holocausts by Mike Davis tells the story of how the British robbed the Indians of their wealth, wrecked their agricultural system (in order to serve the needs of industrial Britain), and then watched as millions of Indian people starved. The book also covers other countries - mainly China and Brazil, but also African nations, and the Philippines. Each nation has a similar story to tell, but for this diary I am going to focus on India.

In the last quarter of the 19th century, there was a series of abnormally strong El Nino cycles. Famine erupted around the world, in each of the places I named above. Some of the disaster is due to El Nino, but the magnitude of the disaster - the difference between a drought and a famine - is manmade.

This story is very relevant now, sadly. Except now it's the U.S. (on behalf of multinational corporations) who is plundering the developing world.

Tropical Tuesday Sampler Platter

by: JayinPortland

Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 14:30:00 PM PDT

• A new (old) cookbook being revised for Oregon's sesquicentennial will be based upon one Southern Oregon family's culinary roots going back 150 years.  The pioneer sour cream pear pie sounds interesting.  Generations of family poetry will also be included, like this gem from Bessie Venable Smith Johnston on a trip to an early-day supermarket - "Foods with additives, preserved to delay the rot; the more I looked, the less hungry I got."  I like her poetry. :)

• A great blog post on the urgent need to improve hospital food.  I spent 5 weeks in a New Jersey hospital ten years ago recovering from meningitis, and the 'food' was probably one of the worst experiences I can remember from that.  It isn't rocket science - better (real, whole) food is one of the keys to better health.  You'd think hospitals would be a natural place to make that connection...

• Marion Nestle offers 3 great suggestions to restaurants, on making it easier for customers to make healthier choices.

• The new trend in food marketing strategies - stressing simplicity.  Which of course in no way makes Fritos or Snapple any 'healthier'.

• In the Washington Post, Jennifer Huget asks what can eaters do as packaged food recalls spread?

• A cool link from TreeHugger on a Scottish sustainable development charity building greenhouses from recycled soda bottles.

• It's the season for snacking on maple syrup on snow in Vermont these days...

• Another article on the loopholes contained in country-of-origin labeling, this one from Tampa Bay.

• The National WWII Museum is seeking your stories and memories about food, recipes, Victory Gardens and rationing at home during the war.

• An article from Australia on organic baby food and the rapid growth of other "eco-baby" products.

Thyme is on my Side!

by: Asinus Asinum Fricat

Fri Feb 20, 2009 at 10:23:35 AM PST

The other one I can't live without either is Rosemary. Cross-posted on the Big Orange!

The Story of Olive

by: Asinus Asinum Fricat

Sat Sep 06, 2008 at 13:00:23 PM PDT

Olive oil is made from the crushing and then subsequent pressing of olives. The fact that olives are rich in oil is reflected in the botanical name of the olive tree-Olea europea- since the word "oleum" means oil in Latin. Extra virgin olive oil is derived from the first pressing of the olives and has the most delicate flavor and most antioxidants.

In this diary I'll deal with the history, and the next one will be about the pressing and the final product.  

Book Review: "Kitchen Literacy", by Ann Vileisis

by: JayinPortland

Wed Jul 23, 2008 at 00:53:31 AM PDT

Ask children where food comes from, and they'll probably answer: "the supermarket." Ask most adults, and their replies may not be much different. Where our foods are raised and what happens to them between farm and supermarket shelf have become mysteries. How did we become so disconnected from the sources of our breads, beef, cheeses, cereal, apples, and countless other foods that nourish us every day?

Ann Vileisis's answer is a sensory-rich journey through the history of making dinner. Kitchen Literacy takes us from an eighteenth-century garden to today's sleek supermarket aisles, and eventually to farmer's markets that are now enjoying a resurgence. Vileisis chronicles profound changes in how American cooks have considered their foods over two centuries and delivers a powerful statement: what we don't know could hurt us.

Book review below the fold...

Frivolous Sundays: the World of Cocktails

by: Asinus Asinum Fricat

Sun Jul 20, 2008 at 13:19:44 PM PDT

Wartime Rationing

by: Asinus Asinum Fricat

Fri Jul 11, 2008 at 00:00:00 AM PDT