I don't write much about the politics of food, but this issue really shows why it's so hard for people to cook the way their grandparents did. In the past century, world agriculture has lost 75% of its genetic diversity to globalization, standardization and monoculture farming; 95% of the tomato varieties that existed in 1909 have become extinct; 91% of corn -- gone. In addition, 95% of the cabbage varieties your great-great grandma grew have been consigned to oblivion. … [Read more...]