Another Way to Avoid Frankenfoods
I was talking with a friend about uncommon food crops, and it occurred to me that this offers another way to avoid frankenfoods. Expand your repertoire of species that have not been genetically modified. There are thousands of edible plants, but only about a dozen major global crops all of them fussy domesticated ones. If the market scatters and/or people avoid frankenfoods, it will not be economical to make them, and people will quit tampering.
* Explore less-common edibles. There are over 3,000 edible plants worldwide, but 12 crops make up a majority of the modern food supply. Watch for unusual ones at grocery stores, farmer's markets, or restaurants; or order them online, but that gets expensive. Harvest Market has an exotic fruit stand where I've found Buddha's hand, dragonfruit, goldenberries, and mangosteen. Occasionally U-pick farms, CSAs, or orchards have something less commonly cultivated like persimmons or pawpaws. A few CSAs specialize in uncommon foods or have a package with that option. Support the people who grow and sell rare crops to encourage more food supply diversity.
https://www.regalisfoods.com/
https://grocerystorenearme.directory/listings/tag/ethnic-food/
https://www.pickyourown.org/
https://www.localharvest.org/farmers-markets/
https://www.localharvest.org/csa/
My current wishlist has several uncommon tree syrups and bitters:
https://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/12792547.html
* Learn about foraging in your current biome. Most countries or states have some "wild foods of (area)" guidebook(s).
https://eattheplanet.org/foraging-tours-classes-and-groups-near-you
https://www.eattheweeds.com/foraging/foraging-instructors
https://www.robgreenfield.org/findaforager
http://foraging.com
https://morningchores.com/edible-wild-plants
https://www.wildedible.com/wild-food-resources
https://www.growforagecookferment.com/foraging-books
https://chestnutherbs.com/the-ten-best-books-on-foraging-wild-foods-and-herbs
* Grow your own. This is often the best option if you have access to a patch of yard, community garden, or even a patio/balcony with pots. Especially look for heirloom cultivars of fruits and vegetables that don't have GMO versions; and uncommon species that most people don't grow anymore, like skirrets or sunchokes.
https://www.outdoorhappens.com/how-to-grow-a-wild-food-forest-self-sufficiency-garden
https://nativefoodsnursery.com
https://www.middleforkwillamette.org/native-foods-nursery
https://ediblelandscaping.com
https://www.edibleacres.org/plants
https://www.usefulplants.org
https://raintreenursery.com
https://www.restorationseeds.com
https://oikostreecrops.com/products/perennial-vegetable-plants/perennial-edible-greens
https://oikostreecrops.com/products/oak-tree-seedlings/edible-acorn-oak-trees
https://oikostreecrops.com/products/perennial-vegetable-plants/groundnuts-apios-americana
https://oikostreecrops.com/products/fruit-plants-organically-grown/currant-and-gooseberry-plants
https://oikostreecrops.com/products/fruit-plants-organically-grown/american-persimmon-pawpaw-plants
https://oikostreecrops.com/products/fruiting-shrub-crops/fruiting-shrub-berry-plants
https://www.oldhouseonline.com/gardens-and-exteriors/heirloom-nursery-directory
https://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/the-10-best-seed-companies-for-heirloom-seeds
https://www.seedsavers.org
* Choose native plants. If you select species native to your area, preferably from a local nursery, they will be well adapted to your climate and need little care. This is very different from a conventional garden. I have black raspberries all over my yard because birds eat them and shit the seeds everywhere -- and the things sprout. Same with mulberries.
* Check the closest Native American tribes around you. What was their historic diet? Are they working on a traditional foodways project that you could support?
* You can also explore what other tribes are doing. There are now a good handful of tribal cookbooks, from fairly historic "decolonize your diet" recipes to native-inspired gourmet stuff. These are fun foodpr0n even if you don't cook much. The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen is a favorite of mine because it really does talk about ingredients beyond the most common ones.
https://www.powwows.com/9-best-native-american-cookbooks
* Bear in mind that quite a lot of Turtle Island was inhabited, and thus cultivated. Some tribes had vast agricultural fields, mostly the Three Sisters but some other stuff too. In other areas people preferred food forests which didn't look like agriculture to Europeans. That means a lot of plants are escaped agricultural crops. Goosefoot, sunflowers, cattails, prickly pear, all kinds of stuff. Dandelion is a European import but it's edible. Food is everywhere. You just have to know which parts are edible and how to prepare them.
* Explore less-common edibles. There are over 3,000 edible plants worldwide, but 12 crops make up a majority of the modern food supply. Watch for unusual ones at grocery stores, farmer's markets, or restaurants; or order them online, but that gets expensive. Harvest Market has an exotic fruit stand where I've found Buddha's hand, dragonfruit, goldenberries, and mangosteen. Occasionally U-pick farms, CSAs, or orchards have something less commonly cultivated like persimmons or pawpaws. A few CSAs specialize in uncommon foods or have a package with that option. Support the people who grow and sell rare crops to encourage more food supply diversity.
https://www.regalisfoods.com/
https://grocerystorenearme.directory/listings/tag/ethnic-food/
https://www.pickyourown.org/
https://www.localharvest.org/farmers-markets/
https://www.localharvest.org/csa/
My current wishlist has several uncommon tree syrups and bitters:
https://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/12792547.html
* Learn about foraging in your current biome. Most countries or states have some "wild foods of (area)" guidebook(s).
https://eattheplanet.org/foraging-tours-classes-and-groups-near-you
https://www.eattheweeds.com/foraging/foraging-instructors
https://www.robgreenfield.org/findaforager
http://foraging.com
https://morningchores.com/edible-wild-plants
https://www.wildedible.com/wild-food-resources
https://www.growforagecookferment.com/foraging-books
https://chestnutherbs.com/the-ten-best-books-on-foraging-wild-foods-and-herbs
* Grow your own. This is often the best option if you have access to a patch of yard, community garden, or even a patio/balcony with pots. Especially look for heirloom cultivars of fruits and vegetables that don't have GMO versions; and uncommon species that most people don't grow anymore, like skirrets or sunchokes.
https://www.outdoorhappens.com/how-to-grow-a-wild-food-forest-self-sufficiency-garden
https://nativefoodsnursery.com
https://www.middleforkwillamette.org/native-foods-nursery
https://ediblelandscaping.com
https://www.edibleacres.org/plants
https://www.usefulplants.org
https://raintreenursery.com
https://www.restorationseeds.com
https://oikostreecrops.com/products/perennial-vegetable-plants/perennial-edible-greens
https://oikostreecrops.com/products/oak-tree-seedlings/edible-acorn-oak-trees
https://oikostreecrops.com/products/perennial-vegetable-plants/groundnuts-apios-americana
https://oikostreecrops.com/products/fruit-plants-organically-grown/currant-and-gooseberry-plants
https://oikostreecrops.com/products/fruit-plants-organically-grown/american-persimmon-pawpaw-plants
https://oikostreecrops.com/products/fruiting-shrub-crops/fruiting-shrub-berry-plants
https://www.oldhouseonline.com/gardens-and-exteriors/heirloom-nursery-directory
https://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/the-10-best-seed-companies-for-heirloom-seeds
https://www.seedsavers.org
* Choose native plants. If you select species native to your area, preferably from a local nursery, they will be well adapted to your climate and need little care. This is very different from a conventional garden. I have black raspberries all over my yard because birds eat them and shit the seeds everywhere -- and the things sprout. Same with mulberries.
* Check the closest Native American tribes around you. What was their historic diet? Are they working on a traditional foodways project that you could support?
* You can also explore what other tribes are doing. There are now a good handful of tribal cookbooks, from fairly historic "decolonize your diet" recipes to native-inspired gourmet stuff. These are fun foodpr0n even if you don't cook much. The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen is a favorite of mine because it really does talk about ingredients beyond the most common ones.
https://www.powwows.com/9-best-native-american-cookbooks
* Bear in mind that quite a lot of Turtle Island was inhabited, and thus cultivated. Some tribes had vast agricultural fields, mostly the Three Sisters but some other stuff too. In other areas people preferred food forests which didn't look like agriculture to Europeans. That means a lot of plants are escaped agricultural crops. Goosefoot, sunflowers, cattails, prickly pear, all kinds of stuff. Dandelion is a European import but it's edible. Food is everywhere. You just have to know which parts are edible and how to prepare them.