Rachel Laudan

This morning’s post is for those obessionistas like me who can’t resist digging into the strange and multiple paths along which people have taken plants, in this case the black-eyed pea (aka the cow pea or Vigna unguiculata). It was first domesticated in West Africa, botanists tell us. A couple of years ago I posted [...]

In the market in Silao, Mexico, the very geographic center of Mexico, ten miles south of the the city of Guanajuato in the State of Guanajuato, the semilleros (seed shops) sell black eyed peas (Vigna unguicalata) along with all the usual Mexican beans. They call them veronicas. You can see them in the sack at [...]

Coca-Cola, originally uploaded by Simon Shek. “Why can’t we put simple medicines or supplies into Coca-Cola crates? So wherever you can get a cola, you can get rehydration salts, malaria tablets, water purifiers, mosquito nets, whatever.” Here’s the link. If the Coke distribution network penetrates as far in Africa as it does in Mexico, this [...]