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The Food Explorer
The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What AmericaEats | Daniel Stone
20 posts | 19 read | 50 to read
The true adventures of David Fairchild, a late-nineteenth-century food explorer who traveled the globe and introduced diverse crops like avocados, mangoes, seedless grapes--and thousands more--to the American plate. In the nineteenth century, American meals were about subsistence, not enjoyment. But as a new century approached, appetites broadened, and David Fairchild, a young botanist with an insatiable lust to explore and experience the world, set out in search of foods that would enrich the American farmer and enchant the American eater. Kale from Croatia, mangoes from India, and hops from Bavaria. Peaches from China, avocados from Chile, and pomegranates from Malta. Fairchild's finds weren't just limited to food: From Egypt he sent back a variety of cotton that revolutionized an industry, and via Japan he introduced the cherry blossom tree, forever brightening America's capital. Along the way, he was arrested, caught diseases, and bargained with island tribes. But his culinary ambition came during a formative era, and through him, America transformed into the most diverse food system ever created.
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Conservio
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8 likes1 stack add
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Mitch
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The tagged book has been on my shelf for a while - maybe a good time to eat around the globe with just my eyes and the words on the page.

Some more good food recommendations here :- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/lists/books-that-take-you-on-a-culinar...

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BekaReid
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Pickpick

I enjoyed this one. Daniel Stone's writing flowed smoothly, and it was an interesting history of Fairchild's exploration of food and travels.

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BekaReid
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"Never be satisfied with what you know, only with what more you can find out."

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bookandbedandtea
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I picked up this beauty at a used bookstore today. I'm having to force myself to carry on with my current library books because I want to drop everything and read this instead.

21 likes1 stack add
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rjsthumbelina
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Mehso-so

I enjoyed this, but not as much as I had hoped to. It was very dry, and I didn't find their lives very interesting. It was very interesting to learn about how foods that initially grew in other countries ended up moving around the world. It is fascinating to think that governments used to pay for explorers to bring back new food! It's also interesting that so many of our foods got here thanks to the same group of people.

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Shuga
Pickpick

I thought this book very informative. There were topics that I probably would have omitted but for whatever reason, the author included. I did not know that avocados were once called alligator pears or where they originated from. Really interesting book

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DebinHawaii
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Took a little time for some breakfast 🥑🍞☕️& reading a bit of my current virtual foodie book club selection at my happy place before running errands. The morning is a bit windy which helps with the humidity. A nice treat was the owner bringing me over two small mangoes from her tree at home that she says are “the best.” Friends sharing mangoes 🥭 is a very good thing. 🤗Happy Saturday! 🌺

Blaire Yum. Looks like a beautiful way to start the day. 5y
Teafiend Are you on Maui? Looks beautiful 5y
DebinHawaii @Blaire It was! Beautiful and relaxing. 🌺 5y
DebinHawaii @Teafiend I am on Oahu. 5y
85 likes4 comments
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DebinHawaii
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Happy Aloha Friday! 🌺
My baker friend sent me a box of goodies yesterday 😋🤗including this blueberry coffee cake so I brought it to work for breakfast. Enjoying my slice with a current read for my virtual foodie bookclub. I am hosting this bimonthly selection so I am trying to actually read it before the 9/30 deadline. 😉Hope you are all having a good day.

Schlinkles Virtual foodie bookclub?!? How fun! 5y
59 likes1 comment
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ReadingEnvy
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Pickpick

The Food Explorer by Daniel Stone is the next pick for my local bookclub and even though I had to fight the eBook hold lists at the library, I was able to get to it before we meet. It is a fascinating tale of many of the foods grown and consumed in America today, all because of this one man who ventured out and collected seeds and cuttings from around the world. My unfortunate husband got to hear a lot of tiny bits that I found fascinating.

RealBooks4ever What a pretty background! 💜 5y
BookNAround I got this one just recently. Good to hear it‘s as interesting as I‘m hoping. 5y
68 likes6 stack adds2 comments
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Kelican17
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Pickpick

I LOVED this book. David Fairchild traveled the world, married one of Alexander Graham Bell‘s daughters, helped to create the U.S. Department of Agriculture, introduced many of the foods that you eat today, and is responsible for the the cherry blossom trees in Washington D.C.! I mean— what a life and thanks for the avocados!
Etta is getting real fed up with life in front of the camera, but approves this book.

Wife Cute pic of Miss #Mayhem. You‘re up early. 💚 5y
Kelican17 @Wife not by choice #teacherlife 😑 5y
Wife I‘ll work tonight if I can sleep, but I‘m wide awake. Considering Benadryl 🤔. I‘m surprised you liked a nonfiction book so much. 5y
See All 8 Comments
Kelican17 @Wife I‘m trying to get into biographies. Also- food focused. Kind of my thing. 🥑🍇🍋 5y
JanuarieTimewalker13 Your cat is beautiful!🐾❤️ 5y
Kelican17 @JanuarieTimewalker13 thank you! 💚 5y
Nute You reminded me that I had an interest in this book. Thanks! 5y
Kelican17 @Nute 🤗📚💚 5y
25 likes2 stack adds8 comments
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ReadingEnvy
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Commence reading date!

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Jenken1998
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Pickpick

This was interesting. The true story of a botanist traveling the world at the turn of the century bringing back all kinds of plants, foods and trees to the US in order to bolster US agriculture. If you like food and history this is your book. Well written with lots of pretty cool facts. Read like a novel for me. 🍇🍎🍏🍐🍓

17 likes1 stack add
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PlantyLibrarian
Pickpick

I could not put this book down. What a collection of influential lives that brought us our avocados, kale, lemons, asparagus...the list goes on. So well written and beautifully researched - I will never look at the food on my plate the same again.

4 likes1 stack add
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PlantyLibrarian

Never be satisfied with what you know, only with what more you can find out.

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Twocougs
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Stopped at Politics and Prose to pick up Daniel Stone‘s book (he‘s a friend of my daughter). Looking for award to reading it!

Wan.der.love Love Politics and Prose, especially their guest lectures 😄 6y
51 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Linsy
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Pickpick

This was fun! I got lost in the details at times, but really enjoyed following David Fairchild‘s life. He was unique, took risks, and found an uber-rich backer for his work in botany. What more could you ask for in a tale of adventure? #netgalley #bookreview

69 likes2 stack adds
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Jen2
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Pickpick

Very good!

91 likes3 stack adds
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Christine
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Pickpick

Great story of how so many of America‘s plant foods were brought here in the late 19th/early 20th centuries, and how that affected int‘l relations and American policy...that all sounds kind of boring, but it was actually really fun! 😜 Since it‘s a biography, it‘s not a comprehensive food history of the era (The Cooking Gene, which I also loved, fills in some of those gaps), though it does touch on colonialism, racism, and other social factors.

Christine Plus it covers the backstory of the Washington, DC cherry blossoms, which was super interesting! 6y
Redy2trvl So glad to see your review! My husband and I saw this story last weekend on CBS Sunday Morning. We were both instantly intrigued, and I ended up putting the boo on our Amazon list. I think I will pull the trigger this week. 6y
Christine @Redy2trvl Oh good - hope you love it! :) (Now I need to go find that Sunday Morning segment!) 6y
57 likes7 stack adds3 comments
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WanderingBookaneer
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Spotted at B&N; added to my #TBR !

Loreen That cover! 6y
rjsthumbelina Listened to the author read the first chapter on a podcast (can't remember which one) a few weeks ago. It was really interesting! 6y
78 likes9 stack adds2 comments