Endangered Foods

Vietnam’s taste for rare meat is endangering several species, and the solution is simple: switch to a plant-based diet. But when apples and other fruits and vegetables are endangered, how do you save them? By eating them, of course. About 1,600 varieties of apples were available in the US a century ago; now there are roughly 11 varieties that can be found in local grocery stores. Groups such as Slow Food Russian River, a Northern California chapter of Slow Food USA, is out to preserve the Gravenstein apple, which first arrived in California around 1790. Though it may seem easy enough to eradicate the apple issue, a UC Davis study suggests a negative affect of global warming on California agriculture, which happens to be home to the US’ most productive fruit-growing region. With animals going extinct and now fruit, we’re not sure what to think about them apples.