The seed detective : uncovering the secret histories of remarkable vegetables /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Meet the Indiana Jones of vegetables and join him on his quest to save our heritage produce.

*Named BBC Radio 4's The Food Programme "Book of the Year"

*2023 GardenComm Media Awards Silver Laurel Medal of Achievement

*Shortlisted for the Garden Media Guild's Garden Book of the Year Award 2023

*Longlisted for The Art of Eating Prize 2023

"[This book] is a clarion call to think about our food in new ways and carefully consider where it comes from."--New Scientist

Did you ever wonder how peas, kale, asparagus, beans, squash, and corn have ended up on our plates? Well, so did Adam Alexander.

Adam Alexander is The Seed Detective. His passion for vegetables was ignited when he tasted an unusual sweet pepper with a fiery heart while on a filmmaking project in Ukraine. Smitten by its flavor, Adam began to seek out local growers of endangered heritage and heirloom varieties in a mission to bring home seeds to grow, share, and return so that he could enjoy their delicious taste--and save them from being lost forever.

In The Seed Detective, Adam shares his own stories of seed hunting, with the origin stories behind many of our everyday food heroes. Taking us on a journey that began when we left the life of the hunter-gatherer to become farmers, he tells tales of globalization, political intrigue, colonization, and serendipity--describing how these vegetables and their travels have become embedded in our food cultures.

"We are a nation of vegetable growers and this book explores the wonderful world of rare and endangered heritage and heirloom vegetables - and why we must keep growing them and saving their seed, not only for our gardening and culinary pleasure, but to pass these stories on - vegetables are truly our history on a plate."--The Seed Detective

"Copious but thoroughly engaging research . . . Alexander shares his excitement over the potential for rescuing this lost heritage. . . All of which makes this title worth a serious look."--Booklist (starred)

"[The Seed Detective] traces the origins and evolution of vegetables that have shaped human civilization."--Atlas Obscura

"[A] spirited introduction to the contemporary seed-saving movement. . . . With entertaining anecdotes that feature Syrian fava beans, Ukrainian sweet peppers and broad beans from Myanmar, Alexander's horticultural adventures will surely stimulate and unleash readers' inner gardeners."--Shelf Awareness

"For Adam Alexander seeds are more than just a job, hobby or passion. They're a lifeline."--Modern Farmer

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Foreword (p. ix)
• Introduction (p. 1)
• Part 1 Visitors from the East (p. 17)
• The Tale of Four Peas or Four Tall Stories (p. 22)
• A Broad Bean Far from Home (p. 41)
• Orange is Not the Only Colour (p. 56)
• In Search of a Welsh Leek (p. 71)
• Of Caulis, Krambe and Braske (p. 85)
• An Aspiring Spear (p. 106)
• For the Love of a Leaf (p. 123)
• Thank Goodness for Garlic (p. 139)
• Part 2 Arrivals from the West (p. 153)
• More Than Just a Fruit (p. 159)
• A Very Uncommon Bean (p. 181)
• The Colour of Corn (p. 198)
• The Tale of Two Classy Beans (p. 216)
• Some Like 'em Hot (p. 233)
• Not Just for Hallowe'en (p. 252)
• And Finally - Seeds of Hope (p. 267)
• Acknowledgements (p. 275)
• Glossary (p. 278)
• Notes (p. 283)
• Index (p. 293)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Lifelong gardener, dedicated seed collector, and film and television documentarian Alexander (A Year at Kew; A Garden for Eden) writes in mouth-watering detail about vegetables he treasures and why biodiversity matters, not just to taste buds but to an ongoing ability to feed ourselves. The history of human interactions with 14 vegetables (peas, garlic, corn, and numerous beans) accompanies Alexander's attention to botanical detail and his stories of personal connections to farmers and farms. VERDICT Fascinating for gardeners and ecology-minded readers. May induce a hankering to seek out or grow brown badger peas, Johnson's Wonderful Longpod beans, and Hanging Lobster tomatoes.

Booklist Review

British documentarian and "seed detective," or guardian, for the British charity Garden Organic, Alexander focuses here on some of the (mostly) vegetable groups at the foundation of the Western diet, including peas, beans, carrots, leeks, brassicas, asparagus, lettuces, garlic, tomatoes, chilies, squashes, and corn. He obviously delights in each of these, sharing copious but thoroughly engaging research on their origins, culinary uses, and growing conditions and practices, as well as, most urgently, how those groups can be rediversified--and their seeds preserved--in our modern world of monocultural farming. Citing the loss of some 90 percent of all varieties of fruit and vegetables in the last century, Alexander shares his excitement over the potential for rescuing this lost heritage. One reason is a home garden's potential as "the most biodiverse [space] for plants, wildlife and food production, [and] growing and saving seeds of local and culturally important crops." All of which makes this title worth a serious look.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Adam Alexander is a consummate storyteller thanks to forty years as an award-winning film and television producer, but his true passion is collecting rare, endangered but, above all, delicious vegetables from around the world. He lectures widely on his work discovering and conserving rare, endangered garden crops, is a board member of the national charity Garden Organic, and his knowledge and expertise on growing out vegetables for seed is highly valued by the Heritage Seed Library, for which he is a seed guardian. Adam shares seeds with other growers and gene banks in the USA, Canada and the EU, and he is currently growing out seed of heritage Syrian vegetables to be returned to the Middle East as part of a programme to revive traditional horticulture. He has appeared on Gardeners' World and the Great British Food Revival, CNN's Going Green and Radio New Zealand.

Find out more: TheSeedDetective.co.uk / Twitter @vegoutwithadam / Insta @theseeddetective