About this Event
Meet the Indiana Jones of Vegetables!
Join us with Adam Alexander and his brilliant and informative book .
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 , Adam tells of his far flung 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.
takes us on a journey that began when we left the life of hunter-gatherers to become farmers. Sharing stories of 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
‘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
About The Author:
Adam Alexander is a consummate storyteller thanks to forty years as an award-winning film and television producer, but his 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, is a board member of the national charity Garden Organic, and his knowledge and expertise on growing out vegetables for seed is highly valued by the Heritage Seed Library, for which he is a seed guardian. Adam shares seeds with other growers and gene banks in the USA, Canada and the EU, and he is currently growing out seed of heritage Syrian vegetables to be returned to the Middle East as part of a programme to revive traditional horticulture. He has appeared on Gardeners' World and the Great British Food Revival, CNN's Going Green and Radio New Zealand.
Find out more: TheSeedDetective.co.uk / Twitter @vegoutwithadam / Insta @theseeddetective
The event will start promptly at 6.30pm.
Tickets £5
Includes glass of wine/soft drink and £5.00 off the published price of when purchased on the evening.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Stanfords, 7 Mercer Walk, London, United Kingdom
GBP 5.00