The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist - Daniel Stone Audiobook

Written by Daniel Stone
Read by Daniel Stone
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats

Publisher: Books on Tape
Release date: February 20, 2018
Duration: 09:58:59

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.

“Daniel Stone delivers a fast-paced narration of this globe-spanning audiobook about the botanist David Fairchild. The story is delivered as an adventure travelogue of Fairchild’s exploits around the globe, which brought mangoes, cashews, and avocados to the American farm and table. The Kansas-bred Fairchild was both smart and lucky. He had a chance encounter with millionaire traveler Barbour Lathrop, which evolved into a patronage and friendship that allowed the intrepid botanist to travel the world collecting cuttings and bringing back the remarkable seeds for foods that changed Americans bland nineteenth- century diet. Stone’s engaging reading style suits his subject well. Sadly, Fairchild ends up an embattled bureaucrat, but the excitement of his discoveries leaves the listener satisfied.”—AudioFile