Looks at the history of vegetables and vegetable gardening.

Discover why Roman gladiators were massaged with onion juice before battle, how celery contributed to Casanova’s conquests, how peas almost poisoned General Washington, and why some seventeenth-century turnips were considered degenerate. Rebecca Rupp tells the strange and fascinating history of 23 of the world’s most popular vegetables. Gardeners, foodies, history buffs, and anyone who wants to know the secret stories concealed in a salad are sure to enjoy this delightful and informative collection.

A cinematic tale of passion, war, loyalty, betrayal, and retribution “These events I relate are the living seeds, and they will bear bloody fruit, I promise.” So says Ulysses, King of Ithaca, as he recounts the origins of the Trojan War. Renowned Greek mythologist Bernard Evslin masterfully depicts the ten-year war: its beginnings rooted in discord among the gods; the seduction of the famed beauty Helen of Troy; and the spectacular development of the Trojan Horse, Ulysses’ cunning ploy to win the war. Evslin brings to life the dramatic twists and turns of this classic tale of human folly, mortal heroism, and the brutality and brilliance that have come down through the ages.

Radio 4's The Food Programme Book of the Year, chosen by Dan Saladino Longlisted for The Art of Eating Prize 2023 ‘If you’re a vegetable growing addict or just curious about their origins, there’s something for everyone in Adam’s new book.’ Rob Smith, TV presenter 'The writing is rich . . . [This book] is a clarion call to think about our food in new ways and carefully consider where it comes from.' New Scientist Meet the Indiana Jones of vegetables on his quest to save our heritage produce. Have you ever wondered how everyday staples such as peas, kale, asparagus, beans, squash and sweetcorn ended up on our plates? Well, so did Adam Alexander. Adam’s passion for heritage vegetables was ignited when he tasted an unusual, sweet and fiery pepper while on a filmmaking project in Ukraine. Smitten by its flavour, he began to seek out local growers of old and near-forgotten varieties in a mission to bring home seeds to grow and share – saving them from being lost forever. In The Seed Detective, Adam tells of his far flung (and closer to home) seed-hunting adventures and reveals the stories behind many of our everyday vegetable heroes. How the common garden pea was domesticated from three wild species over 8,500 years ago, that the first carrots originated in Afghanistan (and were actually purple or red in colour), how Egyptian priests considered it a crime to look at a fava bean and that the Romans were fanatical about asparagus. Join The Seed Detective as he takes us on a journey that began when we left the life of hunter-gatherers to become farmers. Sharing storiesof globalisation, political intrigue, colonisation and serendipity, Adam shows us the vital part vegetables have played in our food story – and how they are the key to our future. ‘Informative, enlightening and entertaining but also important.’ Mark Diacono ‘One of the most inspirational books I have encountered.’ Darina Allen

How many otherwise well-educated readers know that the familiar orange carrot was once a novelty? It is a little more than 400 years old. Domesticated in Afghanistan in 900 AD, the purple carrot, in fact, was the dominant variety until Dutch gardeners bred the young upstart in the seventeenth century. After surveying paintings from this era in the Louvre and other museums, Dutch agronomist Otto Banga discovered this stunning transformation. The story of the carrot is just one of the hidden tales this book recounts. Through portraits of a wide range of foods we eat and love, from artichokes to strawberries, The Carrot Purple traces the path of foods from obscurity to familiarity. Joel Denker explores how these edible plants were, in diverse settings, invested with new meaning. They acquired not only culinary significance but also ceremonial, medicinal, and economic importance. Foods were variously savored, revered, and reviled. This entertaining history will enhance the reader’s appreciation of a wide array of foods we take for granted. From the carrot to the cabbage, from cinnamon to coffee, from the peanut to the pistachio, the plants, beans, nuts, and spices we eat have little-known stories that are unearthed and served here with relish.

What is the responsibility, or the task of the arts as we face environmental crisis? Ecologies in Practice is an edited collection of dynamic and multi-formatted contributions that explore the ways in which cultural production informs perceptions, communications, and knowledge of environmental distress in a Canadian context, pointing to the significance of the arts in the creation and sharing of crucial counter narratives and alternative possibilities. Ecologies in Practice identifies the arts as an important mode of inquiry for reimagining, and for public engagement and understanding of pressing environmental and social concerns, while acknowledging the ways in which it contributes important work to the growing interdisciplinary field of Environmental Humanities. Bringing together artistic perspectives from a range of lenses and voices, including artists, writers, scholars, activists, curators, theorists, and makers, Ecologies in Practice offers important tools for artists, scholars, students, and research-creators invested in arts and the environment. Contributors present artistic methods as alternative sites of understanding that contribute significant and affective work to environmental scholarship, while thinking outside of the disciplinary borders and confines of the artworld. Ecologies in Practice aims to initiate vital conversations among practitioners, and together with readers, consider what environmentally engaged arts lend differently to these conversations.

Illus. in full color. "An ancient history lesson emerges from this account of the way the Greeks tricked the Trojans and rescued Helen of Troy. The book is well tailored to younger readers with careful explanations and short sentences; a pronunciation guide is appended. Drawings portray the story's main events. A nice supplement to units on ancient Greece or mythology."--Booklist.