Transcription
Don't look at the packet. Yum. They're like a barbecue flavour. They're delicious. You have a good palate. What are they? Locusts? Very, very close.
Hello. It's Hannah Gelbart here. Welcome back to What in the World from the BBC World Service. Have you heard of forgotten foods? Today we're going to be talking about what they are and why they matter. And we're going to get the lowdown from our climate and science correspondent, Georgina Rannard, who's been to find out.
Hey, Hannah. So we're starting off things a little bit differently this time. And I'm here at the Science Museum in London looking to take a sneak peek at the Future of Food exhibition. We're going to look at why the issue of food security is so important. Farmers have been saving seeds from their crops for thousands of years to try and protect crop diversity. And today, in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, the Kayabi people hold seed swapping ceremonies using these baskets. Some scientists say that to protect the crops we eat in the face of climate change, we need to learn from indigenous groups and grow a wider variety of plants, something otherwise known as the 'forgotten foods'. But how would this work in practice? And is it even the best solution?
Georgina, you've made it back from the Science museum. We're back. I've actually got you some snacks. They're here, but you can't have them just yet. We're gonna try them later. Okay. Talking about food. I was really surprised when I read that 60% of all of the plant based calories in our diet come from just three crops - rice, maize, and wheat. Why are there so few?
So this is such a big issue. And I think one of the ways to highlight it is if we - if I tell you there are 7500 types of apples, different varieties. But if I go - Did not know that. Yeah. But if I go to the supermarket in the UK, I can maybe buy like five or six and there are no other options, which means those varieties aren't really being produced widely. They're not for sale, they're not kind of being protected as a crop. But the origin of this problem of crops and crop variety is actually when scientists were trying to solve a big problem. Sometimes that happens, isn't it? You try and solve one problem, but it creates another one down the line. And that problem was about hunger. Global hunger and the availability of food. So in the 1950s and 60s, there was this thing called the Green Revolution. And basically there were loads of advances in science, which meant that agricultural scientists could alter the genes of food in a much better way than they ever had before. And basically, they could pick varieties of crops that they knew were very resilient to disease or like super high productive and basically alter their genes so you could use the same amount of land or space but grow way, way more crops. And obviously, if there's more crops on the same amount of space, you can feed many more people. And that was really important when we had, as we have now, a growing global population. But the problem is that, that has led to something called monoculture. So if you imagine there's just the same varieties of crops being grown over and over again. But I would say it's also the result of basically the industrialisation of food. It's a mega business in some countries. One company will dominate most of the food market. The margins are very tight. So they say, 'okay, I can invest in this one crop that I know is reliable', and they reproduce it over and over again. And that's kind of pushing out all these other varieties of crops that are really important for diversity and we probably will need them in the future.
So yeah, talking of monoculture and this very, very limited selection, what are the risks of that?
So if disease starts spreading in one of these crop varieties, it can spread worldwide and impact all of those crops around the world. And they've been bred, really, to not be very diverse anymore because they've selected the best conditions so they can be particularly vulnerable. And climate change is altering, as we know our environment and the growing conditions for farmers around the world. So there's more drought, more flooding, rising temperatures, and all of those are threatening agriculture. So I think one great example of monoculture is the banana, which I've got one here to show you. Great snack. I know I had one this morning. It does power you through the day. And actually, there are over a thousand varieties of banana. But 95% of the global crop is this one, which is the Cavendish banana. But the problem is that banana has come under threat from a fungus called Tropical Race four, or Panama disease, that has already destroyed crops in over 100 countries around the world. So just relying on this one variety has meant that when disease has broken out, it's spread. And they don't have all those other varieties kind of in production everywhere to fall back on. I lived in South America for a bit and I was overwhelmed. I was astonished by how many different types of banana there were. There are these like teeny tiny ones. Actually, most of them are bunches of really short, kind of slightly fat bananas and they taste - they make bananas here in the UK taste like soap. I think that's the thing. So, I went to Ethiopia for a trip once, and this is one of the issues. So there can be countries that grow lots of varieties that are local to that country, but then they're not exported abroad. But I tried a type of banana there and honestly, it looked completely different. It tasted amazing, but they only grow it and really eat it in Ethiopia.
So let's talk more about them now. These so-called forgotten foods, forgotten crops, which are a potential solution to some of the problems that you have set out. And we've been hearing from Philippa Ryan, who's an ethnobotanist at Kew Gardens here in London, and that's home to one of the biggest seed banks in the world. And she sent us this message about one type of forgotten food that is grown in West Africa called fonio.
Today, it's still very common across West Africa, but it's never been grown beyond the region until recently. So what's so special about fonio? It's a group of small seeded cereal grasses that people describe as millets. Actually, in that term, millet, there's lots of different species - fonio is just one example, but all of these millet cereals are gluten free in contrast to wheat. Fonio, for example, is high in minerals like magnesium, and although it's very small seeded, it's very nutritious. It's important to diversify the range of crops by growing a wider range of species from the point of view of resilience to climate change not just aridity but more unpredictable conditions. So if one crop doesn't work, there's other crops that might do. And then secondly, also for our nutritional security, because if our diets become too reliant on a narrow range of species, we're missing some of the wide range of nutrients that we could get from these other crops as well.
So as Philippa mentioned there, a lot of these forgotten foods aren't really forgotten at all. They have been cultivated for centuries, and they are eaten regularly by indigenous and local communities. But they're not really made at this huge agricultural scale like the Cavendish banana and therefore they've kind of largely been left out of global diets. What other examples are there of so-called forgotten foods?
So on the banana theme, there's a crop called false banana or ensete, and it's called false banana because it looks like a banana plant. I've actually seen them growing in the wild and they're these amazing plants. The inside of the trunk can be mushed down into a paste, which is then fermented in the ground, and you can make bread from it. The roots can be used to make a porridge. And then actually the leaves can be used to build homes in in some countries. And Ethiopia is the main country where this grows. And it currently feeds 20 million people in Ethiopia but scientists say that as our world warms and agriculture becomes more difficult, it could actually feed a hundred million people globally.
Are these wild crops more resistant to things like climate change and disease?
These wild crops, or kind of forgotten ones that have much more diversity, in them, there's a storehouse of genetic diversity. So within that they may have more resistance to disease. They may be more sort of flexible or malleable if we want to select them and move them to countries where the kind of growing range is changing. So previously, farmers may have been able to grow a particular type of rice, for example, but now it's too dry. But if they look at the kind of - the variety in the other forgotten rice strains, they may say, 'okay, that one actually, that is perfectly adapted to the new range, the new dry conditions that we're seeing in this country, so we'll reintroduce that.'
That makes it sound very easy.
It is actually quite difficult to do that. And of course, there are reasons that we rely on monoculture because basically it's very safe. But as we move into essentially a more unreliable climate, scientists say we actually need to kind of tap into these other strains of diversity, but they can be a bit harder to control. So we've created varieties that essentially suit exactly what we need. And we could be going out there and using these wild crops or forgotten crops. But you need a lot of time to do that, space to experiment, money. And if you have people relying on the crops that we know work, they're sort of fail safe, that's really important and you don't want to have failed harvests because you were trying out a new crop, and then suddenly lots of people can't eat. And it can be hard to get your hands on the seeds for this. Actually, you were telling me earlier that you sometimes grow your own food, and when you go and buy the seeds, there are really limited varieties. And there's something called seed sharing that people use in different parts of the world. So it's about spreading the seeds from an individual farmer or community and making it sort of fail safe into the future and spreading them around to other communities, but also trying to introduce more diversity as these plants develop and grow over time.
In some countries, including Kenya, seed sharing is actually banned and we have been speaking to Jewel Kiriungi from our Nairobi bureau to find out why.
Did you know that in Kenya it is actually illegal to share or sell traditional seeds unless they've been certified by the government? Well, this is according to a law called the Seed and Plant Varieties Act, which was introduced in 2012. It says that only certified seeds can be exchanged and anyone who violates this law, faces a jail term of two years, or a fine of about 7700 USD. The government says that the law will help to protect the quality of the seed and improve productivity. But here's the problem, small scale farmers make about 70% of Kenya's agricultural sector, according to the Kenya National Farmers Federation. Many of these farmers rely on informal exchange of seeds from neighbour to neighbour, season after season. These traditional seeds that have been passed down across many generations have adapted to local conditions such as drought, poor soils and pests. In May this year, a group of farmers took the government to court, arguing that the law is unconstitutional. They say it criminalises their way of life, especially at a time when many Kenyans are facing hunger. Some civil society groups argue that the law. benefits big multinational corporations by forcing farmers to buy seed every season instead of using their own. The case is before the High Court, and the judgment will be delivered in November this year.
So, Georgina, other than seed sharing, what about some of the other solutions to the problem of lack of food diversity? Things like gene editing or crossbreeding.
So gene editing, although it sounds a bit - Fake, doesn't it? Yeah. Doesn't sound very organic. It sounds a bit ominous. But actually, it's a really powerful tool. We've used it for a long time, and it can have incredible benefits. It is controversial in some places. There are lots of opponents who argue that we shouldn't be messing around with the DNA of species. But others say that if you do it in a safe and controlled environment, it's very beneficial, and why not use that tool? So for example, back to the Cavendish banana. So it's been threatened with this fungus, but scientists have found a gene in a wild species of banana that is resistant to that fungus. So they've started to insert that gene into the Cavendish banana to protect it from that disease. So it's currently being tested. And if the results are positive, it could be that that is rolled out. But it will have to overcome some regulatory barriers.
So as our diets change and the types of species that we rely on change, what might our dinner plates look like in the future?
So I have brought you back some treats Hannah from the museum. I'm very hungry. But we're going to do a bit of a test. Okay. So - and you've got to tell me what you think it is. All right. So hold your hand out. Should I close my eyes? Yeah. Close your eyes. So this is the first one. It's like a bag of crisps or like nuts or seeds or something. Yeah. So tell me what the flavour is and then what you think it actually is. It's quite sweet. It's like honey. Yeah. Yeah, getting caught in my throat. Can I open my eyes now? Yeah. So it's salted toffee. I'm getting salted toffee. Oh my gosh. What are you giving to me? There's little bits of bug in my hand. Okay. I can see bits of body. Hmm. You're lucky I'm not a vegetarian, Georgina. It is tasty, though. Any guess on the bug? Too big for ants. I'm glad they've cut it up so I can't really see - although there are some eyes and some heads in here. Oh, God. Okay, let me give you the other one and see what you think. All right. I'm gonna finish these off. Yeah. Next one. Don't look at the packet. I'm not looking. Okay. Try those. Okay. Okay. They look similar, but a bit bigger, I imagine. Mm. Yum. They're like a barbecue flavour. They're delicious. You have a good palate. Oh, I could actually eat those and not be so creeped out by them. What are they? Locusts? Very, very close. So, actually, it's the same insect in both, but different flavors. Peri peri. Peri Peri locust. Yeah, well, they are crickets. You've just eaten some crickets. But that is one of the foods of the future. So there's already - in some laboratories you can go and see how they're developing crickets for us to eat. They're high in protein, could be very cheap to produce. Lots of them, you know, great - they're all around the world.
And apart from insects, what plant species might become more widespread?
Things that we don't currently eat a lot of. So I think it's important to remember that there is development of insects or ants that we could eat some plants, but actually it's quite a big uphill battle to change the way we eat to change the global food industry. This isn't just about what you and I would pick for our dinner. We have to buy what's available and what big companies are producing. And so I think it's not going to be as simple as just, 'oh, let's find these forgotten foods and reintroduce them.' And I think to really change and shore up or protect our food system in the face of climate change, it would have to be one of the main staple crops where you saw greater diversity. So rice, which feeds over - it's the staple for over half the world's population, if we were seeing different varieties of rice, or perhaps even a type of supplement for rice being developed, I think that would be a game changer for the future.
Georgina, thanks so much.
Thanks, Hannah. And that's it for today. Thank you for joining us. I'm Hannah Gelbart. This is What in the World from the BBC World Service. And you just saw me eat crickets. I'm curious about the kind of foods that you eat that might be forgotten in some parts of the world. Please do drop us a line in the comments, subscribe and share with your family and friends. We'll see you next time.