麻豆约拍

Adam Walton in conversation with botanist Professor John Warren of Aberystwyth University about his new book: "The Nature Of Crops - How We Came To Eat The Plants We Do" published by CABI.

John outlines the stories of the plants we eat. Across many centuries we have selected and domesticated plants for food, often when, in their native form, they are poisonous. For example, wild almonds contain deadly cyanide, and only through trial and error by our ancestors were we able to select and cultivate a non-poisonous almond.聽


John also tells us about the varied, and often bizarre, sex lives of food crops including the avacado, where single plants can alternate between male and female forms. Also the papaya which can be male, female or hermaphrodite, or a variable combination of sexes.

The programme also explores the reasons why we only eat a tiny percentage of the plants available.聽