Eat This Podcast

The food industry keeps losing lawsuits, but still they keep ‘em coming. Eat This Newsletter looks at that, cryptospora in the USA and Europe, the EU’s need to support a healthier diet, waves of interest in nutrition, and the warm Middle Ages. buttondown.com/jeremycherfa... #food #agriculture

It has taken years of training, but I am now one with the corn.

Today I am reminded of that time we posted about mini-pigs and almost drowned in the ensuing deluge of comments. jeremycherfas.net/blog/pigmies...

Eat This Newsletter 318: Hindsight Looking back, at gourds and pumpkins as anomalies, at invented gastronationalism, at a rice bowl, at the ur-parents of citrus, and at the potato as social signifier. buttondown.com/jeremycherfa... #food #agriculture

Weed all about it – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/10/weed... #conservation #genebanks #cannabis #agrobiodiversity @usdagov.bsky.social #biodiversity

Rounding off the 20th anniversary celebrations of the Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/10/roun...

Colonist settlers were happy to thank divine providence for the fallow land they found near Plymouth Rock. And that helped them ignore the agriculture of the Wampanoag people who helped them survive their first few winters by sharing the fruits of that agriculture. eatthispodcast.com/wampanoag

World's Most X Y is always good for a laugh.

Great interview on @historyextra.bsky.social podcast with Eric T. Jennings about his book Vanilla: The History of an Extraordinary Bean. One quibble, though. The source of vanilla is definitely not the only edible orchid, as anyone who has had saleb will know. agro.biodiver.se/2026/10/not-...

Continuing the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the blog with another trawl through the archives: There’s gold in that thar rice story Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/10/ther... #genebanks #conservation #agrobiodiversity #biodiversity #HeirloomSeeds

Luigi doing great work spelunking in the depths of 20 years of agricultural biodiversity.

Every day this week, I'll revisit some old stories from 20 years of the Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog. Today: Wine from the ashes agro.biodiver.se/2026/10/wine... #conservation #HeirloomSeeds #agrobiodiversity #biodiversity #genebanks

Then. Now. Next: 20 years of the Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/10/20an... #conservation #genebanks #agrobiodiversity #biodiversity #HeirloomSeeds

A dumpling by any other name would taste as good.

I think I went a bit overboard on trying to draw a theme out of cassava, chestnuts, rice, food names, and -- abandoning the theme -- fruit breeding. But they are all there in the latest Eat This Newsletter. buttondown.com/jeremycherfa... #food #agriculture

Simple and easy will always win out over complex and difficult.

The official Italian radicchio consortium warned members not to share their secrets with a bunch of upstart American growers. Fortunately they failed. A new book tells the story of more than a decade’s work by Lane Selman and the Culinary Breeding Network. HTTPS://eatthispodcast.com/radicchio

Joining the dots on food plant diversity – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/09/join... #genebanks #conservation #agrobiodiversity #biodiversity #FoodPlants

Twiga Foods, a start-up in Kenya that raised US$190mn from WorldBank, Microsoft and others, is facing administration. It aimed to connect farmers with small vendors through a digital platform, but couldn't compete with the efficiency of Kenya's informal food markets. techcabal.com/2026/09/20/t...

Was happy to speak with Swissinfo about the important topic of corporate power in food systems! Featuring new data too from @etcgroup.bsky.social and insights from Taarini Chopra! www.swissinfo.ch/eng/agribusi...

EU farm subsidiaries should not be paid to the UAE's sovereign wealth fund, ADQ, which runs large farms in Spain and Romania, say European peasant groups. They demand an audit from the European Court of Auditors and call for a change of rules. www.eurovia.org/press-releas... @eurovia.org

Fantastic news. I do hope it will be adequately funded into the future.

What seventy years of adoption research can teach genebanks – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/09/seve... #genebanks #conservation #agrobiodiversity #biodiversity #PlantBreeding #OpportunityCrops

Livestock diversity in the news: Cantabria is putting the Pasiega cow in the bank Spain’s “goat-cows” are fighting wildfires the old-fashioned way: by eating the fuel India has made a Badri calf in a lab agro.biodiver.se/2026/09/nibb... #conservation #agrobiodiversity #biodiversity #genebanks

New episode: The Truth About Picky Eaters Childhood pickiness wasn’t even a thing until the 1920s. Where did it all go wrong? A mix of well-intentioned advice with disastrous consequences, misguided psychology, and a heaping dose of industrial food. eatthispodcast.com/picky #podcasts #nutrition

Brainfood: Opportunity crops, meet your constraints – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/09/brai... #conservation #agrobiodiversity #biodiversity #genebanks #OpportunityCrops #PlantBreeding

Nibbles: Frafra, Seed multiplication, Quality seeds, Balearic genebank, Indigenous trees double, Bruno cart, Belgian wild yeast – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/09/fraf... #genebanks #conservation #agrobiodiversity #biodiversity #OpportunityCrops #brewing #trees #seeds

A lot of rich people own them and gamble on them, and get them to compete in arbitrary contests, paying others to breed new ones and train them up. The general public is encouraged to bet on them too, but a lot of the big investment is from oligarchs competing for status.

Fine piece looking at the difficulties and rewards of using genebanks to breed better plants. agro.biodiver.se/2026/09/from...

Absolutely everythang!

eatthispodcast.com/ferments We can pickle it. But will we want to? Ken Albala thinks maybe not. We talked about fermentation around the world and the past and future of real pickles.

How do you justify support for genebanks when their value may not become apparent for 50 years? The simple answer is: You shouldn't need to. Just take a look at what comes out of them. #agrobiodiversity #conservation

Crops made, and remade – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/08/crop... #biodiversity #agrobiodiversity #CropWildRelatives #genebanks #PlantBreeding #domestication

Nibbles: Mango breeding, Cambodian peppers, Cold genes, Geechee cowpea, Navajo genebank – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/08/nibb... #genebanks #PlantBreeding #HeritageSeeds #conservation #biodiversity #agrobiodiversity

Nibbles: Amaranth webinar, FARA on fonio, Maslin, Gaza genebank, Nepal seeds, Golden Triangle tea – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/08/nibb... #conservation #agrobiodiversity #biodiversity #genebanks #OpportunityCrops

UReading is 100, & in celebration scientists harvested beans from its cacao collection (yes, it has one) to make Britain’s first homegrown chocolate bar since 1932, a novelty act with a serious undertone: climate change is squeezing cacao’s traditional growing belt. agro.biodiver.se/2026/08/nibb...

Towards a digital workflow for forest restoration – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/08/towa... #conservation #restoration #forestry #biodiversity

The revenge of the sweetpotato – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/08/the-... #conservation #genebanks #biodiversity #agrobiodiversity

In the latest Eat This Newsletter, a couple of dreamy prescriptions for a better food world, as well as a clear-eyed view on what’s up with wheat prices. And if all that is too bitter, how the USA became sweet on yoghurt. buttondown.com/jeremycherfa... #food #agriculture

Nibbles: Festivals, Wheat breeding, Cowpea, Community seed bank, Mint diversity – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/08/nibb... #conservation #agrobiodiversity #genebanks #biodiversity

In the latest Eat This Newsletter, I share a bad case of pessimism. But there are also lotus eaters, a history of biryani, and a love letter to Italy's August traditions. buttondown.com/jeremycherfa... #food #agriculture

Good piece that lays it all out.

Brainfood: Avocado history, Brazil commuity seedbanks, Citizen science, Agroecology x2, Indigenous knowledge, Turkish seeds, Swiss biodiversity – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/08/brai... #conservation #biodiversity #agrobiodiversity #genebanks #seeds #IndigenousKnowledge

Nibbles: Museum of Cider, Aport apple, Rattan genebank, Sri Lanka rice, Saudi coffee landscapes – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/08/nibb... #genebanks #conservation #agrobiodiversity #ecotourism #biodiversity

Smelling the heirloom coffee – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/08/smel... #conservation #genebanks #heirlooms #agrobiodiversity #biodiversity #coffee

Then what happens to it?

The flour of Kenyan agrobiodiversity marketing – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/08/the-... #conservation #biodiversity #agrobiodiversity #marketing #genebanks #OpportunityCrops

Latest Eat This Newsletter battles through the heat to bring you cyclospora, doubts about the wisdom of medieval food systems, and the Ur-scapegoat in Iran's rainmaker. buttondown.com/jeremycherfa... #food #agriculture #farming

Those look tasty.

Frozen amaranth and old memories – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/08/froz... #vegetables #agrobiodiversity #biodiversity #genebanks #conservation #opportunitycrops