The Origins of Fruit and Vegetables

by Johnathan Roberts and Jonathan Roberts

Book Overview

Cherry trees, well known in America from the George Washington legend, actually originated in China, but were not domestically cultivated until the first century b.c. in Greece, and are closely... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0789306565
• ISBN13: 9780789306562
• Release Date: December 2001
• Publisher: Universe Publishing(NY)
• Length: 228 Pages
• Weight: 1.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 8.2" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Fruits and vegetables in art and history

The origins of food plants is a fascinating subject in its own right while the light it shines on human history is a splendid bonus. Knowing that barley and wheat came from the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia in the Middle East helps to explain why civilization first arose there and not somewhere else. Those foods helped to sustain a "surplus" population that could devote itself to the arts and invention, leading to the modern world. Indeed all wealth has as its base the growth and storage of food in excess of that which is needed for the sustenance of the food producers, resulting in non-food producing people who can devote themselves to competing schemes of how to steal the wealth and how to protect it (i.e., war). Looking at the history of art through still life and other works of art centering on fruits and vegetables is also fascinating. Essentially this is what Jonathan Roberts has done in this very attractive, richly illustrated book.To give you some idea of his intent consider pages 122 and 123. On the right-handed page there is a photograph of "Banana Skin c. 1500" from the "Museum of London Evacuations, London Bridge, Southwark, U.K., 1999" showing the black skin of a banana with the obvious import that the banana had already reached the London produce market in c. 1500, just eight years after Columbus's first voyage. Remarkable. Then on the left-handed page there is an image of the oil on canvas painting, "Bananas, 1952" by Lucian Freud, showing an entire stock of bananas still on the tree. Roberts employs a number of famous works such as Van Gogh's "The Potato Eaters" and Botticelli's "Madonna of the Pomegranate" to illustrate the text; indeed there is art work from the Twelfth Egyptian Dynasty through Greek and Roman times to the still lives of the Renaissance to William Hooker, Gauguin, Cezanne, etc., to moderns like Edward Burra and even examples of Russian propaganda art and American advertizing. The text is a little repetitive and there are some boilerplate phrases that appear several times, but there are only a few typos and I noticed no errors of fact (which isn't always the case in books like this: Roberts himself notes copious errors in, for example, Gerard's "Herball" 1597). Still, I think Roberts did a good job of going beyond the normal range of "coffee table" text while not being too technical. What really appeals, though, is the artwork.I enjoyed this book although as always I would like more information; indeed an entire book devoted to each and every fruit and vegetable featured here (there are at least sixty, from apples and avocados and pears to beans, carrots, melons, to peppers both black and red, to pumpkins and zucchini, the latter not mentioned in the text, but there is an unmistakable illustration on page 141)--and more--would be ideal.

Praise the Lord and pass the Sauce!

This book is an excellent overview of the natural history of fruit and vegetables-where they originated, how they have changed and developed over time, and how they have influenced history. The first part details various aspects of our most common fruits (as least 29 main types are discussed), the second part that of vegetables (at least 25).It is interesting to trace the place of origin of our most cherished delicicies. Tomatoes (western South America), potatoes (western South America), strawberries (the modern is a hybrid from a Chilean variety and a Virginian variety), banana (SE Asia), apple (South East Asia and Eurasia), orange (SE Asia), cracked black peppercorns (Southern India), carrots (Eurasia-probably Afghanistan), maize/corn (America-possibly the Andes originally), fermented grapes (Eurasia-possibly even fermented by homo erectus), watermelon (Africa), cucumber (India), pumpkin (Americas), leek (Central Asia), onion (Central Asia), avocardo (modern types come from Central Amercia), lemons (Eastern Himalaya), kiwifruit (Southern China) and many others. Beetroot grows wild near the sea in the Mediterranean. A tomato native to the Galapagos Islands has evolved resistance to seawater, but the seeds must be digested and 'voided' by tortoises-giant ones-before they will germinate. Charles Darwin would have been impressed. Readers might be interested to know that the Romans and Greeks, for example, would have never even heard of such delights as tomatoes, potatoes, and corn, as these were all native to the Americas. Oranges, which are a cross between a pumello and a mandarin, didn't reach Europe until the Dark Ages, and neither did our modern apple.With increase in trade and exploration over time many subspecies were crossed and produced vigorous hybrids, which in conjunction wih selective breeding and vagaries of taste over time, has produced many of the modern forms we see today. It is interesting to note here that not all modern forms are necassarily the best -the Jonathan apple for example, became very popular simply because it is bright red and looks good in the supermarket-but it is not the best eating apple.Another interesting aspect is the carrying of many original types from the east by Islamic ventures, and to the east by Christians and various explorers. Cross-fertilisation thus eventuated by accident. Subsequently, many species were further cross-fertilised with North and South American types after the expansion into the Americas by Europeans after 1492. Not all fruit and veges stand the test of time. The ancestor of the bean appears to have gone extinct, and some apple varieties seem to be going that way, crowded out by the Golden Delicious, and the ever-red Jonathan. Others took a long time to get going-such as the tomatoe. For long its association with the poisonous Mandrake stifled its development in the European Middle Ages. Today it is one of the most versatile and most widespread fruits grown. (It is actually a fruit or b

New York Times, January 30, 2002

Mr Roberts's talent in explaining foods' beginnings make this elegant 228-page volume a real page turner.