Origins of garden vegetables: A quiz

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Sunday, July 17. 2016

Origins of garden vegetables: A quiz

Do you know where these typical American garden plants originated in their wild forms before being genetically-engineered over millennia by clever humans into the international things we know and grow today?

Cucumber
Eggplant
Potato
Tomato
Onion
Zucchini (and all other squash and gourds)
Beans and Peas
Lettuce
Spinach
Strawberry
Radish
Peppers
Chard (including Swiss Chard) - chard is in the beet family - the beet was first grown for its greens, not the root
Corn (maize)
Asperagus
Rhubarb

Answers below the fold

Cukes - Southern Asia

Eggplant - India

Taters - Central America

Tomato - Central America

Onion - Central Asia

Zucchini - North America/Central America

Beans/Peas - There are Old World beans (possibly from Central Asia or the Middle East) and New World Beans (South America)

Lettuce - Egypt

Spinach - Central Asia

Strawberry is a hybrid of European and North American wild plants

Radish - probably South Asia

Peppers - Central and South America

Chard - likely domesticated in Sicily

Corn - Central America

Asperagus - Asia Minor

Rhubarb - China

Posted by Bird Dog in Food and Drink at 11:25 | Comments (12) | Trackbacks (0)

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I don't think this post regarding sexually suggestive gourds will elicit the emotional responses I saw about fat.

But I believe there are serious unresolved issues here. Let me begin with Gregor Mendel. The godfather of genetic engineering and all of the evil things associated with it.

Mendel started the GMO craze. It sort of figures since he was Christian, he was a man, he tinkered around with genetics, he was probably literate, a bit bored and a bible thumper. Clearly, Mendel was evil. Men should never try to make things better. Especially plants. It's unatural.

Not only was Mendel evil, the entire process of modifying plants throughout history was and is tainted with cultural insensitvity, theft, profiteering and war. I would be willing to bet Mendel stole those peas from an oppressed serf.

To continue, most of the plants on the list above were stolen from their rightful owners. Tators, for example. But, did the innocent native peoples of Central and South America ever get their fair share of the profits made from the infamous tator trade? No, of course not, they got dictators and banana plantations. And death.

However, forced into the condition of tator deprivation, they invented some excellent rice and bean dishes. It's a remarkable testament to the inherent goodness of the native peoples and a positive spark in a dark narrative.

Overall however, it was nothing short of genocide, cultural murder and workplace harassment.

I could expound endlessly on this topic but I hope I conveyed the important role vegetables play in the overwhelming culpability we share as members of this evil western society.

So, when you grill those veggies or sip your soups, I want you to think about the millions of uncompensated victims around the world. Feel guilty.

If you wish to do good. Occupy Monsanto, Dole and your local grocer. Boycott vegetables entirely, they are all immorally modified.

#1 W. C. Taqiyya on 2014-08-03 12:37 (Reply)

@W. C. Taqiyya; I can only hope that your post is satire? Please?

#1.1 BTrader on 2014-08-03 13:26 (Reply)

Well, I'm not supposed to admit that it's satire. It might ruin the effect. But it is. I just hope you enjoyed it.

#1.1.1 W. C. Taqiyya on 2014-08-03 15:35 (Reply)

Sad thing is that I know of some people who actually spew this stuff here in NY. I was worried that one of them had found Maggies and decided to "Educate" us.

'Phew'

#1.1.1.1 BTrader on 2014-08-03 15:39 (Reply)

With a blog name like W. C. Taqiyya, it would seem rather obvious that the above was a satire.
From Wiki:Taqiya.

QUOTE:

...an Islamic term referring to precautionary dissimulation or denial of religious belief and practice in the face of persecution....Yarden Mariuma writes: "Taqiyya is an Islamic juridical term whose shifting meaning relates to when a Muslim is allowed, under Sharia law, to lie. A concept whose meaning has varied significantly among Islamic sects, scholars, countries, and political regimes, it nevertheless is one of the key terms used by recent anti-Muslim polemicists."

I cannot tell a lie: I HATE sweet potatoes. Unlike President GHW Bush, I loves me some broccoli.

#1.1.2 Gringo on 2016-07-17 11:57 (Reply)

Now that was a good rant! Thanks for the laugh.
And an interesting list.

#1.2 acairfearann (Link) on 2016-07-17 11:25 (Reply)

Let's not forget the scallion - which originally was cultivated around the ancient city of Ashkelon (now under mortar fire from Gaza).

escallion = ashqelon.

#2 Ben David on 2014-08-04 03:54 (Reply)

There used to be a vegetable rights association website that did a hilarious spoof of PETA. They claimed that harvesting vegetables to eat was cruel and we should be eating animals instead. Some people actually took them seriously.

#3 Ray on 2014-08-04 11:59 (Reply)

And, let's not forget we eat it all on china, which originated in, you guessed it, China.

#4 BillH on 2016-07-17 11:33 (Reply)

Correction: Potatoes originated not in Central America, but in southern Peru and northwestern Bolivia. There are also some common-sense ways to see this. Anyone who has seen markets or restaurants in Central America compared to Peru and Bolivia can see that potatoes are much more common in Peru and Bolivia. In Central America, the nearly ubiquitous starch is corn, which is much less common in Peru or Bolivia. Also consider that potatoes are grown in moderate to cold climates in Europe and North America- which have climates that more closely resemble the climates of the altiplano of Peru and Bolivia than climates in Central America.

Chuño, a rather ingenious Andean potato product, is a freeze-dried potato which has been part of Andean cuisine for millennia. It can last for several years. Its flavor is not enticing- rather like chewing tasteless rubber- but survival trumps flavor. But throw it in a stew with some chilies and other stuff, and the tasteless part is very well hidden.

#5 Gringo on 2016-07-17 12:23 (Reply)

It is our sacred duty:

When vegetables have no voice,
When tubers have no tongue,
When legumes have no language,

...who will speak for them?

We must!

#5.1 Southpaw on 2016-07-17 21:10 (Reply)

Frank Zappa: Call Any Vegetable

QUOTE:

Call any vegetable
(Call any vegetable)
Pick up your phone
(Call any vegetable)
Think of a vegetable
(Call any vegetable)
Lonely at home
(Call any vegetable)
Call any vegetable
And the chances are good
That a vegetable will respond to you-hoooo

RUTA-BAY-AY-AYGA RUTA-BAY-AY-AYGA
RUTA-BAY-AY-AYGA RUTA-BAY-AY-AYGA
RUTA-BAYYYYY . . .

#5.1.1 Gringo on 2016-07-17 22:14 (Reply)

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Sunday, July 17. 2016

Origins of garden vegetables: A quiz