Thank you for this fascinating piece. I’ve been thinking a lot about regional foods lately; I live in a place that prides itself on having a couple of canonical regional dishes, the product of a wave of immigration from southern Italy at the beginning of the 20th century. Although all of these foods feature produce brought to Italy via the Columbian Exchange, none of the vegetables, with the exception of beans, were actually cultivated in our area, or have any relationship to our local ecosystem now. And yet they are culturally very important to this place. I don’t want to discount that, but I feel like there’s a level of superficiality applied to what passes as local food/local agricultural traditions. Though I guess we need to start somewhere.
Yeah there's no clear answer for sure, but we'll have to draw from the resources available to get buy-in at the very least while also not erasing the complex history that got us to where we are today.
Thank you for this, fascinating and something I am now inspired to learn more about.
ah man, what a resource!
Thank you for this fascinating piece. I’ve been thinking a lot about regional foods lately; I live in a place that prides itself on having a couple of canonical regional dishes, the product of a wave of immigration from southern Italy at the beginning of the 20th century. Although all of these foods feature produce brought to Italy via the Columbian Exchange, none of the vegetables, with the exception of beans, were actually cultivated in our area, or have any relationship to our local ecosystem now. And yet they are culturally very important to this place. I don’t want to discount that, but I feel like there’s a level of superficiality applied to what passes as local food/local agricultural traditions. Though I guess we need to start somewhere.
Yeah there's no clear answer for sure, but we'll have to draw from the resources available to get buy-in at the very least while also not erasing the complex history that got us to where we are today.
Thank you Andy. Has given me plenty to think about.