weekend reading

A visit today to the Toowong Library resulted in some fascinating finds. The more reading one does on the history of where things of a botanical nature come from - especially now familiar and common edible things - the more intriguing and dense the stories seem to become. Books have been written about coffee, chocolate, portatoes, nutmeg and the list goes on. Plant derived foods that are now everyday kitchen items once sparked wars and gambling with lives to obtain.

Mark Kurlanksy, in  book I found a few years ago titled "Choice Cuts" says
      "Food is about agriculture, about ecology, about man's relationship with nature, about the climate, about nation building, cultural struggles, friends, enemies, alliances, wars and religion."

This is pretty much a short list of directions for consideration and research in relation to seeds - not just concerning food. Science definitely needs inclusion on this list - now more than ever! Out of curiosity I borrowed all these books below in order to see if and where seeds might feature in the discussion. This first title looks like be a must read...a short book...but possibly a good introduction to this topic. By the way, any reader who knows of these or other worthwhile related reads please do email or comment - It would be good to know more on this!

Whilst at the dinner table discussion over some gems from Brillat-Savarin made for an interesting exchange. Particularly enjoyed his experiment with coffee making but so much more awaits the reader of this text! 

An Aphorism from the Professor:  "The pleasures of the table are for every man, of every land, and no matter of what place in history or society: they can be part of all his other pleasures, and they last the longest, to console him when he has outlived the rest."

A quick peek into Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic world was both seductive and peppered with interesting tales.

Not yet gleaned anything about this title below!

The Bunya Cookbook below I was particularly curious about as it was produced here in Brisbane specifically for the Aboriginal and Islander communities featuring indigenous ingredients where possible. I would like to elaborate more on this later.

Perhaps the most remarkable book in this collection for its gritty future thinking WHERE OUR FOOD COMES FROM has a first chapter titled The Art Museum and the Seed Bank. 

Before dawn on July 6th , 1941 a half million drawings, paintings, artifacts and ornaments from the great Hermitage were boarded onto the first train leaving Leningrad for sanctuary away from Nazi invasion which was eminent in this city. Six days it took in the planning and execution to get ready to send the Hermitage Art Collection into hiding - a collossol effort by hundreds called in to help - including the artists. Three blocks away on Saint Isaac's Square lay hidden a 2nd treasure trove - a Seed Bank of more than 380,000 samples of seeds, roots and fruits of some 25,000 species of food crops that had been collected by Russia's world class cadre of plant explorers since 1894.

The story from here appears to be truly astonishing - the fact that the Bureau of Applied Botany is still there today and was not bombed in the 900 day seige by the Nazis that cost 1,500,000 lives. Known now as the N.I.Vavilov All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Plant Industry it still harbours seeds and scientists. The Vavilov story is riveting - of a plant scientist who travelled to 5 continents in search of crop diversity and its importance in staving off famine - who met his end starved to death by Stalin despite or because of his legacy of plans for food democracy. Its a must read if the topic is of interest.

Much more could be said of all these books. The last one above is a sobering story of one man's vision for dealing with the issue of farmer's rights, food democracy and food security 70 years ago. The future of seeds requires we address the quality of our global environment and the democratic right for all to access our global seed heritage.

Click on text below to open and read about this book and the American based author who just won a Russian medal for this work which you can read about at islandpress.org and see more at his website
garynabhan.com.
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Below: this document of about 20 pages in length was produced around 2003, and if I recall accurately, presented at Terre Madre - the International Slow Food Conference/Convivium in Italy. Please correct this is you have further information!

Marianne North: an extraordinary artist visits Queensland circa 1880

Marian North (1830-1890) was born in Hastings England and travelled constantly with her father, an MP for Hastings, from 1855 after her mother died - resolving to paint the flora of distant countries after his death in 1860. A gallery for her work was built at Kew Gardens, London - opening in 1882. She travelled to Australia in 1880, apparently on the urging of family friend Charles Darwin. She was caught up in a most fascinating time in Botanical history and found herself with modest but substantial enough funds to do the extensive travel she became so well-known for through her Gallery that still stands and is a very popular destination for visitors. A remarkable life indeed!



This gallery interior hints at the massive collection of over 800 works she made in her lifetime. I came across her work on the www.kew.org site under collections, specifically Art images.
It should be noted: she was far more likely to paint plant specimen in their natural context rather than to take a plant sample away from its habitat and then render it scientifically and clinically on a white page. By all accounts her work never suffered scientific inaccuracy even if she was working in situ in all kinds of climatic and geographical locations. This is cause for some serious thought - the work was relied on for its usefulness and accuracy in an age when cameras were not available for documentation and research purposes.



'Foliage, Flowers, and Fruit of a Qld Tree and Black Cockatoo'.
Oil on Board Notes: this bird alone has a beak strong enough to crack open the nut of the Macadamia tree. 



No 767. 'Study of the bunya-bunya.'
Click on title for notes by artist on this tree, its importance to indigeneous people, the seeds etc. On an earlier post I referred also to similar notes about cultural significance of this species. Read also about Bon-yi season here on the Homage to the Seed blog archives.



'Nest of the coachman's whip Bird, in a Bunya-Bunya, Queensland.
Oil on Board. Notes: The trees were full of these hanging nests of the Psophodes crepitans, made of the freshest green moss, and ornamented with the feathers of the common red and blue parrots.



'View of the Botanic garden, Brisbane, Queensland.
Oil on board. Flowers of the Large Water Lily Nymphaea gigantea - water lily peculiar to Australia.

For a brief but interesting account  of her life go to plant explorers.com - an interesting site with background into the early days of plant exploration - ancient Egypt, Babylon, Paradelos and China up to the 20th century. The Golden Age of Botany is referred to - perhaps a useful outline for a overview.

Visit www.kew.org for further information about the gallery named in her honour and other work in her collection. If you click on Collections at the top of the website you can investigate the extraordinary range of collections of all kinds related to Botany.