Referat für Menschenrechte, Gesellschaftspolitik & Ökologie

23.05.2023 TALK: Remarkable Vegetables – From Wild Parent To Cultivated Offspring

In this talk Adam is going to use examples of some of the vegetables that are the stars of his book „The Seed Detective – Uncovering the Secret Histories of Remarkable vegetables“ to illustrate what has inspired him to write about the remarkable journey of the most prosaic of vegetables have taken from wild parent to cultivated offspring.

@RESOWI HS 15.04        Universitätsstraße 15      19:00 Uhr

On his way the amazing plants found themselves revered and at the very heart of human cultural evolution. As civilisations came and went the vegetables which were at the very centre of those food cultures continued to evolve, becoming a part of the story of globalisation, scientific advancement and the arts. By growing vegetables, celebrating them, saving their seeds, sharing them and their stories plus personalities, we reconnect with a story of humankind that started around 12.000 years ago when our neolithic ancestors turned from hunter-gatherers to settled farmers.

Adam Alexander is a consummate storyteller thanks to forty years as a successful and award-winning film and television producer. His book „The Seed Detective – Uncovering the Secret Histories of Remarkable vegetables“ was published in September 2022. Adam’s true passion is collecting rare, endangered but above all, delicious vegetables from around the world. He lectures widely on his work discovering and conserving rare, endangered garden crops. He is a Board Member of the national charity Garden Organic. His knowledge and expertise growing out vegetables for seed is highly valued by the Heritage Seed Library, for which he is a seed guardian. He shares seeds with other growers and gene banks in the EU, the USA and Canada. He is currently growing out seed of heritage Syrian and Ukrainian vegetables for displaced people and to be returned to the Middle East as part of a programme to revive traditional horticulture and seed-saving.

We are looking forward to see you!