The Food Explorer by Daniel Stone
Travel the world with an adventurer/botanist who introduced some of our favorite produce.
Dutton / Penguin, 2018, www.penguinrandomhouse.com.
The Sustainability Book Club met on September 7 to discuss The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats. This is the delightful tale of David Fairchild, a self-taught botanist who had a passion for finding new seeds and plants and sharing them with American farmers. Fairchild visited more than 50 countries, almost all by boat, at the turn of the 20th century. He was often accompanied by Barbour Lathrop, the wealthy world traveler who spurred his early explorations and became his benefactor and friend. Their opposing personalities and sometimes contentious relationship is a charming backdrop to the book’s main subject.
In The Food Explorer, author Daniel Stone explains that in the late 1800s, the food landscape in the United States was primarily about subsistence, with meals consisting of meats, cheeses and breads plus a few root vegetables and beans. Fairchild’s work brought new color and taste to the American diet—mangoes from Vietnam, avocados from Chile, seedless grapes from Italy. The story of his life brings to light how most of the fruits and vegetables we eat today came from countries around the world.
The book club discussion touched on what life was like in America in the late 19th and early 20th century. Travel was so different—taking weeks to cross the country by train, sometimes attempting—and failing—to catch ships sailing abroad before they departed. There were also many life-altering inventions during this time period—light bulbs, automobiles, airplanes. Fairchild met many prominent people and even married telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell’s daughter! “The inventions and explorations into things we take for granted today were fun to think about and appreciate,” noted one book club member.
Fairchild introduced thousands of crops to American farmers.
Here are some of them:
Meyer Lemon (Citrus x meyeri) - China
Dates (Phoenix dactylifera) - Iraq
Cherry Blossom (Prunus serrulata) - Japan
Red Seedless Grapes (Vitis vinifera) - Italy
Egyptian Cotton (Gossypium barbadense) - Egypt
Kale (Brassica oleracea) - Croatia
Hops - (Humulus lupulus) - Bavaria
Pomegranate (Punica granatum) - Malta
Soybean (Glycine max) - Indonesia
Nectarine (Prunus persica v. Quetta) - Afghanistan
If you’d like to learn more about David Fairchild and his impact on American farming, pick up a copy of The Food Explorer!
The Sustainability Book Club
Join a small group of avid readers who meet monthly to engage in lively discussions focused on books about sustainability. The club meets at 6:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of every month on Zoom. Contact us to join!
Oct. 5: The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr
Nov. 2: Food Stars by Ellen Mahoney
Dec. 7: How to Prepare for Climate Change by David Pogue
