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Rebecca :
Whenever I plan a meal or plant the garden, my first thought is for vegetables . I'd not given any thought to how long our vegetables have been around -- how did you become a food historian?
William :
I am trained as an architect & architectural historian. I began restoring old bakeovens, which led to bread, which lead to grains & milling, & soon, I was over on the food side of things -- & stayed there, as food history was such a new topic. I sort of created it as I went.
Rebecca :
What is an heirloom or heritage vegetable?
William :
Heirloom or heritage vegetables are open-pollinated varieties that have been handed down by past generations. They are time-tested sorts which exhibit a great deal of biodiversity, which is the genetic insurance policy against extinction. Modern hybrids lack these traits.
Rebecca :
What is the difference between “manor house” & “farm” varieties?
William :
The differences are subtle & referred to rather loosely among plant historians. But manor house variety would imply a better, more improved type of vegetable, while “farm” or landraces would be less refined, more closely aligned with wild types of veggies.
Often the manor house in traditional village culture was the first place where new varieties from the outside were introduced. The implication is that the manor kitchen (& cookery) was more refined than that of the farmhouse.
Rebecca :
What is the longest you've searched for a plant & what is the oldest vegetable in continuous growth you've found?
William :
The longest I have searched for a plant? 10 years. My oldest variety in continuous cultivation? Perhaps the Cypriot bottle gourd (datable to about 2,500 BC) or the Peruvian yacon (datable to at least 500 AD). There are many others, like the Syrian Purple Carrot, etc.
Rebecca :
From Aji Dulce Peppers to Zwollsche Krul Celery you have written about unusual yet well-known veggies -- how did you find them & how did you choose this 100?
William :
Over the years I spot things in seed collections that tweak my curiosity, so I try them. After awhile, I develop a list of favorites. For 100 Veggies I chose plants that were both good to eat and beautiful to look at. Some of them have extraordinary colors which are very difficult to describe in black-&-white words.
Rebecca :
Why is the Old Mayemensing tomato remarkable & what is an Inca hand grenade?
William :
Old Mayemensing is remarkable because it came from an 1830s prison garden & I never thought such a tomato would be possible to find. I thought it was long ago extinct. But it is not & now I can even picture how the inmates may have cooked with it. It is a piece of food history that deserves preservation.
An Inca hand grenade is an expression. The pepper explodes with heat. If you break it open in an enclosed room, many people will start to cough. My eyes water even when I smell it from a distance in the garden. Birds love the pepper, but they cannot taste heat, so to them it is sweet like fruit.
Rebecca :
What is so special about the Isle of Arran & Donald Mackelvie in particular?
William :
The Isle of Arran is special because it was the site of a great deal of potato experimentation. Many new varieties came from there & Donald Mackelvie was largely responsible for them. He was a breeding genius when it came to potatoes. He seemed to know how to enhance flavors as well as create hardier & more productive plants.
Rebecca :
I relish a sweet & tasty Savoy Cabbage, how did the Chieftain help in World WarII?
William :
Chieftain helped the war effort. I suppose the idea was to help feed the workers on the rubber plantations in Central America so that rubber production would be insured since the East Asian plantations fell into Japanese hands. Central Americans love cabbage anyway, so it fit a useful niche in their diet. I think back home in the USA, it was intended to be grown in Victory gardens, hence the patriotic allusion to a native American image.
Rebecca :
Where can a reader find such exotic seeds & what other goodies are you now digging up?
William :
At the back of my book, I list several sources for seeds. The best place to start however is Seed Savers Exchange. Anyone can join & their seed list is the largest of its kind in the country. The people who list seeds in SSE represent some of the best growers in the country, so if you get to know some of them, you can get just about anything you want, unless of course, the variety is extinct. I am always surprised, however, by just how much still survives, although there may be several names for the same plant. A lot of it is just plain detective work. But to me, that part is just as much fun as growing the vegetables.
Hope this helps, W3
William Woys Weaver
Food Research
Box 75, Devon, PA 19333-0075
Email: W3Food@aol.com
Contributing Editor GOURMET
Editorial Board Scribner's Encyclopedia of Food
Rebecca :
Do check out my review of W3's 100 Vegetables: and Where They Came From
For you gardeners -- that love to experment do check out my review of William Woys Weaver's 100 Vegetables and Where They Came From & grab yourself a copy from Amazon.Com.
(Published July 08, 2001)
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