National Geographic, August 2015 (Food)

choi

Daniel Stone, Where Foods Come from?

“AVOCADO  The fruit originated in Mexico and Central America. Today, three types grow, each in different conditions.

“SUNFLOWERS  This plant is one of North America’s few native crops, its seeds often harvested for oil.

“GRAPE  Wild grapes were domesticated only once, in the South Caucasus [Georgia]. Cultivars traveled around the world.

“APPLE  Originally from Central Asia, the fruit is thought to have first spread along the Silk Road.

“CITRUS FRUIT  Today’s oranges and tangerines evolved from primitive mandarins and pomelos in East Asia.

“STRAWBERRY  The modern berry is a hybrid of two varieties, one from each of the Americas.

“PINEAPPLE  The fruit originated in the Amazon. European explorers are thought to have carried samples east.

“COFFEE  Ethiopia grew the crop first. It traveled to Asia, Europe, then South America--where most is now grown.

“EGGPLANT  Two varieties were domesticated in India and southern China. One spread east, the other west.

“BANANA  New Guinea had the first bananas.  The primary modern variety is a clone from Southeast Asia.

Note:
(a) Regarding “three types grow.” I can not find anything like that.  
(i) avocado: "the 'Hass' avocado is today the most common. It produces fruit year-round and accounts for 80% of cultivated avocados in the world.  All Hass trees are descended from a single 'mother tree' raised by a mail carrier named Rudolph Hass, of La Habra Heights in Los Angeles county], California.  Hass patented the productive tree in 1935. The 'mother tree.' of uncertain subspecies, died of root rot and was cut down in September, 2002." Wikipedia
(ii) Avocado Varieties. California Avocado Commission, undated
www.californiaavocado.com/how-tos/avocado-varieties.aspx
("The Hass variety accounts for approximately 95 percent of the total crop each year – which runs from Spring to Fall. * * * Distinctive for skin that turns from green to purplish-black when ripe")

(b) Comille A et al, New Insight into the History of Domesticated Apple: Secondary Contribution of the European Wild Apple to the Genome of Cultivated Varieties. PLOS, 8: e1002703 (2012)
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3349737/

Quote:

abstract: “The wild European crabapple M[alus] sylvestris, in particular, was a major secondary contributor. Bidirectional gene flow between the domesticated apple and the European crabapple resulted in the current M domestica being genetically more closely related to this species than to its Central Asian progenitor, M sieversii.

introduction: “The wild Central Asian species M sieversii (Ldb.) M. Roem has been identified as the main contributor to the M domestica genepool based on similarities in fruit and tree morphology, and genetic data. The Tian Shan forests were identified as the geographic area in which the apple was first domesticated, on the basis of the considerable intraspecific morphological variability of wild apple populations in this region.

* In summary: The Central Asia ancestor M sieversii is the principal genetic contributor to the modern-day apple M domestica, whereas European crabapple M sylvestris made secondary contribution.

(c) orange (fruit)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_(fruit)
(orange “has genes that are ~25% pomelo and ~75% mandarin”/ Sweet oranges were mentioned in Chinese literature in 314 BC; section 1 Botanical information and terminology)
(d) Wikipedia on eggplant.

Quote:

“The plant species originated in cultivation. It has been cultivated in southern and eastern Asia since prehistory. The first known written record of the plant is found in Qimin Yaoshu (齊民要術), an ancient Chinese agricultural treatise completed in 544.

"Some 18th-century European cultivars were yellow or white and resembled goose or hen's eggs, hence the name 'eggplant'

"The most widely cultivated varieties (cultivars) in Europe and North America today are elongated ovoid, 12–25 cm long (4 1⁄2 to 9 in) and 6–9 cm broad (2 to 4 in) in a dark purple skin. * * * Chinese varieties are commonly shaped like a narrower, slightly pendulous cucumber

* Genetic evidence of eggplant domestication remains in flux.

choi

The Future of Food.

Quote:

“ROYAL FINGERS  Queen Elizabeth I generally ate with her fingers.  She considered the use of forks crude.

“EAT IT ALL  The rind of Brie cheese is edible.

“ANIMAL LAND  The livestock sector is the largest land-use system on Earth, occupying 30 percent of ice-free land.

Note:
(a) Not just the queen--her subjects, too. See fork
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork
(Its use was first described in English by Thomas Coryat in a volume of writings on his Italian travels (1611), but for many years it was viewed as an unmanly Italian affectation)

(b)
(i) Brie
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brie
(named after Brie, the French region from which it originated; The whitish moldy rind is typically eaten)
(ii) What Cheese Skins Can You Eat?
www.quora.com/What-cheese-skins-can-you-eat
(Yoav Perry on Jan 27, 2011: “This virtually makes all cheese rind safe to eat.  That being said, you really want to avoid plastic wrappers, cheesecloth-bound rind and wax/paraffin which are used INSTEAD of rind in some cheese such as Cheddar, Edam, and Gouda, or sprayed or brushed on some versions of hard long-aged cheese like Parmesan”)