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Save a Food From Extinction: Eat It for Dinner

'Food coalitions' aim to keep ingredients, recipes key to US heritage in circulation

By Paul Stinson,  Newser User

Posted May 1, 2008 7:40 PM CDT
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(Newser) – Vanishing culinary breeds are getting a new lease on life, thanks to the efforts of an ethnobotanist with an interest in America's foodie past, the New York Times reports. While Makah ozette potato sounds like a "Final Jeopardy" answer, the once-endangered vegetable is one of the many culinary artifacts Gary Paul Nabhan aims to bring back to America's dinner tables.

Nabhan has amassed a 1,080-strong list of items on the verge of vanishing: among them, the Buckeye chicken and the Bronx cherry. Food coalitions such as Slow Food USA review the list, selecting tasty and meaningful items to resuscitate on local restaurant tables, thereby guaranteeing buyers and encouraging farmers to grow the rare foods.

Pictured here, the buckeye chicken is widely believed to be one of the five most endangered poultry breeds.
Pictured here, the buckeye chicken is widely believed to be one of the five most endangered poultry breeds.   (http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/buckeye.html)
A 200-year old crop of the Makah Indians of Washington state, the ozette potato is enjoying a resurgence at Seattle restaurants due to the efforts of food coalitions.
A 200-year old crop of the Makah Indians of Washington state, the ozette potato is enjoying a resurgence at Seattle restaurants due to the efforts of food coalitions.   (http://www.cornichon.org/2006/11/)
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food • endangered species • agriculture • gourmet dining • crops • anthropology • Makah tribe • chickens • potato • American cusine

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