Where Our Food Comes From

In the first half of the twentieth century, Russian botanist Nikolay Vavilov travelled the world collecting seeds representative of agricultural biodiversity.

In light of hunger and famine in the newly formed Soviet Union, Vavilov hoped to find and create hardy strains that could survive the Soviet climate and alleviate hunger. What he found, however, was not just the importance of saving seeds but also the cultural knowledge and traditions necessary for these seeds to flourish.

Nabhan’s retelling of Vavilov’s travels shows why simply maintaining a seed bank is not enough. Instead, we must also preserve traditional knowledge along with the… show more.