Schriften zu Genetischen Ressourcen - Genres

M. CHAUVET
Anyway, as the traditional rural life is vanishing, the status of wild food is changing rapidly,
and merits documenting. Wild vegetables were an important complement to rural
diets. Now, they are coming back as a fashion for so-called ‘bobo’ (bourgeois bohême)
urban people. Some three-star chefs offer them in their menus.
As examples, the wild asparagus, Asparagus acutifolius, is still a traditional vegetable
in southern France, and is commonly sold in markets. The vineyard leek Allium polyanthum
is also available, although supplies are becoming rare because vineyards have
no longer weeds due to the use of herbicides. Perhaps the most striking change is the
fashion for wild salads. A local association in Montpellier every year organizes a field
trip to help people identify wild salads in their rosette stage. Only by advertising in
newspapers, they bring together about 300 people, which is becoming an important
local event.
In Paris, a new market has been created for aspergette, Ornithogalum pyrenaicum,
which is collected in eastern France (Lorraine) and sold in specialty shops and street
markets. In that case, I must confess that the texture of the flower stalks of this plant is
mucilaginous, and not worth comparing with a good asparagus.
Plants we eat without knowing
Most books about food plants seem to ignore the changes brought by the industrialisation
of food, although this process has begun in the 19th century. I often insist in the
conferences I deliver on the fact that we eat many plant products unknowingly, and apparently
with no harm. For example, most milk products include guar flour. Very few
people know that it is obtained from the seeds of a pulse, Cyamopsis tetragonoloba,
which is grown for this purpose in the United States, and the young pods of which can
be found in Europe in Indian groceries.
Other examples are annatto or rocou, Bixa orellana, which is a red colouring agent
commonly used in European specialty products (cheeses, sausages, etc.). Fats such as
shea butter or karité, Vitellaria paradoxa, and illipé (Shorea spp.), are now allowed as
components of chocolate in the European Union.
Plants generally misidentified
During my research, I also found that some taxa are commonly misidentified. Raphanus
sativus Daikon Group is now available in European markets. In France, where we have
no tradition of eating white big radishes, it is not perceived as a radish. It regularly appears
on markets under the name navet (turnip), and I had confirmation by a cook (my
own son) that it is now currently used by cooks instead of petits navets. The reason for
that is simple: daikon is always crisp and juicy, whereas turnips are too often fibrous
and hollow. Daikon is also easier to peel and cut.
105