[Sdpg] NEW BOOK/Conservation You Can Taste book Gary Nabham/Download

Sun Nov 3 09:30:33 PST 2013

http://www.garynabhan.com/pbf-pdf/ConservationYouCanTaste.pdf

Seed Savers Exchange
Free PDF download of a great publication that just came out, 'Conservation You Can Taste,' which documents the recent successes in restoring agricultural biodiversity across the U.S. Download it and get inspired to eat heritage foods: http://garynabhan.com/i/archives/2327
Conservation You Can Taste
Oct 16, 2013 | Articles, Blog | 1 comment
OVER THE LAST three decades, more than one-hundred thousand plant and animal varieties and species have become endangered around the planet, many of which formerly provided humankind with food or beverages. At the same time, a remarkable counter trend has occurred in America’s gardens and orchards, and on its farms and ranch pastures.

Although virtually unnoticed in some circles, more than fifteen thousand unique vegetable, fruit, legume and grain varieties and dozens of livestock and poultry breeds have returned to U.S. foodscapes, farmers markets, restaurants and home tables over the last quarter century. It has often been repeated that just a hundred or so species of crops and livestock moving through globalized food supply chains provide most of humankind with the bulk of its calories that move through globalized commerce today. In contrast, this survey documents that at least six hundred and forty species are now on the plates of Americans participating in alternative food networks, not counting the many North American edible species of fish, game, shellfish and wild plants.

Curiously, most of these six hundred forty species had been pushed out of the marketplace over the previous century as industrialized agriculture and national grocery store chains consciously or unconsciously reduced the food biodiversity available to nourish our families, friends and communities. And yet, after suffering at least a half century of endangerment, some foods like the range-fed lamb grown by Diné and Hispanic herders of flocks of Navajo-Churro sheep are once again gracing the tables of restaurants every day of the year.

To be sure, no single individual or organization is responsible for such culinary comebacks; it has taken a village of collaborators. And yet, it is fair to say that the innovative farmers, ranchers, chefs, co-ops, distributors and collectives engaged with this food diversity have been supported more by a dozen national non-profits and regional grassroots alliances than by government agencies, national conservation organizations or universities. America’s repertoire of meats, fruits, grains, vegetables, spices and beverages have been re-diversified, one foodshed at a time.

In particular, the market recovery of what are popularly known as heritage foods—including heirloom vegetables, grains and fruit trees as well as historic breeds of livestock and flocks of so-called poultry antiquities— has been nothing short of miraculous. As you will see documented over the following pages, varieties and breeds thought to be close to extinction a half century ago are once again being grown by thousands of small scale farmers, and are back on the tables of fine restaurants, brew pubs and home kitchens in every state in the union.

About Gary:
Gary Paul Nabhan is an internationally-celebrated nature writer, food and farming activist, and proponent of conserving the links between biodiversity and cultural diversity. He has been been honored as a pioneer and creative force in the "local food movement” and seed saving community by Utne Reader, Mother Earth News, New York Times, Bioneers and Time magazine

Download the PDF and read the Best Practices in Food Recovery

THERE SHOULD be no doubt that we find ourselves in the midst of a critical change in the way that Americans view food. The popularity and growth of farmers markets, the active engagement of consumers who want to know whether their food contains GMO’s, growth hormones or antibiotics, and the availability of local foods in supermarkets are all evidence of a major shift in our collective thinking. It’s certainly a different landscape than when Chefs Collaborative was founded in 1993, when diners were lucky if the tomatoes on their plates were anything other than the two or three firm, red, tasteless high producing industry standards. Nowadays, delicious varieties of heirloom tomatoes are commonplace on supermarket shelves and restaurant menus.
Chefs – and consumers along with them – have turned to heritage foods for a variety of reasons. Chief among them are taste and chefs’ incurable curiosity for new ingredients and flavors. But it’s also recognition that cultural and biological diversity are essential for the health of the earth and its inhabitants.
As a founding organization of Renewing America’s Food Traditions (RAFT) alliance in 2004, Chefs Collaborative joined with Gary Nabhan, The Center for Sustainable Environments, Slow Food USA, American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, and Seed Savers Exchange, to build awareness about the need for biodiversity in our food system and to encourage action. Our work on the project culminated in a series of Growouts, where more than 50 farmers and 50 chefs in New England joined forces – the farmers
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FO R EW O R D
grew specific at-risk varieties with potential for success in the marketplace and the chefs bought these heirloom vegetables and featured them on their menus along with stories. A few varieties became stars among farmers, chefs and consumers – including the Jimmy Nardello pepper and the Gilfeather turnip – and it’s those varieties that have gained a visible toe-hold.
We hope you are as thrilled as we are to see that our collective work on market recovery is having an impact. Now for the first time, we have documentation of the extraordinary growth in the production, sales and use of heritage food. This is cause for celebration. But, it’s also a reminder that absent the work of so many we’re left with homogeneity and large scale monocultures that leave our food supply vulnerable to climate change, diseases and pests. So vive la difference and let’s keep at it!
“It’s been important to have chefs involved on the cutting edge of this work with heirloom vegetables. They’re helping growers figure out the best ways to use their particular heirloom beans so that the farmers can sell them for four dollars a pound like they do at Whole Foods or specialty shops. The chefs are now serving as educators for both growers and consumers, and that’s why they are having such an influence on the public.” Paul Wallace, founder, Petaluma Seed Bank
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Melilssa Kogut
by Megan Larmer, Manager of Biodiversity Programs for Slow Food 
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