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

The true adventures of David Fairchild, a late-nineteenth-century food explorer who traveled the world and introduced diverse crops like avocados, mangoes, seedless grapes-and thousands more-to the American plate.

In the nineteenth century, American meals were about subsistence, not enjoyment. But mainly because a new century contacted, appetites broadened, and David Fairchild, a 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 discovers weren’t just limited to meals: From Egypt he repaid a variety of cotton that revolutionized an industry, and via Japan he released the cherry blossom tree, permanently brightening America’s capital. Along the way, he was imprisoned, caught illnesses, and bargained with isle tribes. But his culinary ambition emerged during a formative era, and through him, America transformed into the most diverse food system ever created.