Daniel Stone (1)Besprekingen

I'm not sure that I will remember even 25% of the material in this book, but it was very interesting to listen to!

Really enjoyed this book. There was some science, about plants, insects, quarantines , etc. and some human interest, as he did give the individual “characters “ (real people) enough voice that you cared what happened to them. There’s were nods to historical events, imperialism, planes, world war, etc. honestly this book has it all

I was on the fence of whether to rate this book with 3 or 4 stars. I decided to err on the side of generosity because the accomplishments of the main subjects of this book deserve to be known and celebrated. So many foods you encounter daily are the direct or indirect result of the intrepid works of a handful of men over a century ago.

Entertaining microhistory, some parts more than others. It's difficult to contextualize without really discussing that history in a way that is tangential, which of course I would have also enjoyed. Now, I would like a personal pineapple, please.

Wow. I am not normally a voracious page-turner of non-fiction, but this one did it for me.

This is the true story of David Fairchild, a man who was responsible for immeasurably enriching America's agriculture. Does that sound dull? It's not. If you're like me, you love food. If you're like me, you maybe also consider yourself fairly willing to try new things and food of different ethnicities. BUT, none of us can escape that we are probably pretty complacent about the foods we have grown up with, the foods we assume "belong" to our people and our lifestyle. These foods somehow seem to just naturally have pride of place on our menu, and that's just the way it is, and they're normal, and everything else, while interesting and maybe delicious, is slightly exotic and "outside."

Wrong.

When I learned, from this book, how much painstaking work and passion went into importing new plants into America--plants that produce food we now take for granted--I was in awe. When I realized what an absolute lottery of chance it was that certain plants found success in the United States and other plants never quite got a proper opportunity due to accident or poor timing, I was confounded. My exciting, profound takeaway from this book is that there is SO MUCH food out there and given a slight alteration in history or policy, ALL of it could have been MY "normal". If this doesn't change the way you look at food, and enhance your willingness to try all types, then nothing will.

This book was extremely well written. Usually when I read non-fiction, I set myself goals of a certain number of pages per time. When I was at about 70% towards the end, I intended to stop for a bit, but I just kept on going. I wanted to know what happened to David Fairchild, to his star explorer Frank Meyer (SO tragic and when I use Meyer lemons from now on I will contemplate his life with the proper gravitas), and to the edge-of-your-seat battle between the plant importers and the pest preventers.

This is a tale of a little espionage, a little diplomacy, a little bureaucracy, a little romance, a lot of friendship, and a driving curiosity about the good stuff on the planet.

Here are a few choice quotes:
"[Fairchild] used to say, 'Never be satisfied with what you know, only with what more you can find out."

"Fairchild liked the idea of espionage, but he was as skilled at covert action as he was at ballroom dancing, having done neither."

"For a botanist, the first taste of a new plant was like meeting a new person, and recalling it flooded the mind with memories of where it had happened, what the tongue expected, and what it found instead."

"Wasn't it strange, Fairchild observed, man's propensity to be satisfied with so little when so much was available?" YES, I think so too!

"A glass ceiling could be shattered once; after that, latecomers could only break the pieces into smaller and smaller shards."

"His cynicism about people's stubborn tastes had grown strong. "I know there are many people who will shy at the idea of even tasting the leaves of the papaya," Fairchild wrote..."But as they shake their heads they will reach for a cigarette."



***I first learned about this book from a Smithsonian podcast called "Side Door," and NetGalley kindly gave me access to a digital review copy.

This was a fascinating story about the aftermath of the Titanic sinking. The author researches all the different people who had the dream of finding the Titanic which is way more people than you’d think. There’s a thread that weaves throughout about one guy’s dream which is a mix of pathetic, sad, and funny; the author tells his story well with sympathy and honesty. I loved all the history about other ships that have sunk throughout the centuries; just the question at the beginning which asks us to guess how many are under water had an unbelievable answer. I like this author’s style so hope to read his other book about food sometime this year.½

This was a fairly interesting book on the push for new crops in the US and the use of the USDA to distribute them and educate farmers. David Fairchild traveled around the world bringing back cuttings, seeds and rootstocks of plants he felt had potential. Some have become staples of our diet. However I am not clear why the author felt the need to paint Charles Marlatt as a villain for insisting on proper inspection and quarantine of imported plants. As an entomologist Marlatt feared the importation of pests, and obviously that was a realistic fear. His opinions made Fairchild's work more difficult, but he was still correct in his cautions. I guess the author just sort of fell in love with his subject.

If you were always interested in finding out why the Meyer Lemon is called just that or how the Haas avocado got its name... this book is for you!

Utterly fascinating if one is interested in where our crops originated and how what we eat changes. Not a standard biography, but you'll certainly know more when you finish.

This is a worthwhile read, not only to learn the history of foods we take for granted in North America, but to observe the opposing politics that continue to prevail today. Do we open our doors wide to the world, believing that there will be rewards or do we bar the door out of fear that new things will harm us?

A solid waste of time. Neither a biography, a travelogue, or a book about food, this book does an excellent job of accomplishing nothing. Two stars for the pics, a zero for the writing. Problems galore in this book....no real indication of the educational background of Fairchild. No idea what the stop in Germany early in his career might have been about as it is not mentioned until it is referenced several times later in the book...very little about the plants themselves....and the author seems to be fascinated with Fairchild to the point that he defends him to an extent far beyond objectivity. I do not care about a person's sexuality, most especially in a book about a botanist, a book that turned out either to be an exceptionally bad biography or was never meant to be a biography....what then was it? The two decades from 1920 to 1940 were covered in just a few paragraphs....biography? I think not. I can usually put up with a mediocre book if I get something, anything, out of it. Not the case here. Beyond mediocre in the wrong direction.

"In the nineteenth century American meals were about subsistence, not enjoyment. Agriculture yielded stable, basic crops like soybeans, corn, and barley, and few growers considered variety or flavor. But as a new century approached, appetites broadened, and David Fairchild, a young botanist with an insatiable hunger to explore and experience the world, set out in search of foods that would enrich the American farmer and enchant the American eater. Boarding a steamship, Fairchild embarked with little money and even less confidence, but he abounded with curiosity. Soon he fell in with an eccentric San Francisco millionaire named Barbour Lathrop, who took a shine to the awkward young man and financed his wanderlust. Across oceans and over rails, up mountainsides and through the surf of tropical beaches, they visited five continents and more than fifty countries, encountering cultures unimaginable to his neighbors back home. Kale from Croatia, mangoes from India, and hops from Bavaria. Peaches from China, avocados from Chile, and pomegranates from Malta. Fairchild's finds weren't just limited to food: From Egypt he sent back a variety of cotton that revolutionized an industry, and from Japan he introduced the cherry blossom tree, forever brightening America's capital. Along the way he was arrested, caught diseases, and bargained with island tribes. But his culinary ambition came during a formative era, the golden age of science, travel, and a world growing more connected; and through him, America's food system was transformed into the most diverse ever."--Dust jacket. 8 copies, 24 holds on 5/8/18