All about vegetables: Facts worth bringing from the field to the kitchen

12 000
There are around 12,000 different types of vegetables grown in the world, in Europe we harvest around 150 varieties and Czech farmers grow around 50 of them. That's not a lot, but! The good news is that the area set aside for growing vegetables has expanded over the past two years from 12 000 to 15 000 ha from a total of 3 000 000 ha of arable land.
Apparently we have the potential to become a vegetable growing power - we just need to overcome the effects of collectivisation, grapple with the scarcity of labour, and awaken the the younger generation interest in farming in the young people, as the Farm School does.
Romans
It is reported that most of the vegetables in the country are not indigenous. It was the Romans who excelled in cultivation in ancient times and later introduced us to Mediterranean crops such as horseradish, turnips and lettuces, chard and many other species. Similarly, the Christian monasteries educated us.
Incidentally, the oldest vegetable finds in Bohemia date back 6,000 years and among them were seeds of carrots, parsnips and peas while in Moravia, garlic plants dating back 5,000 years have been found. Potatoes, beans, cucumbers, peppers or tomatoes have been around for a much shorter period of time.
Something extra: Cultivated plants are considered the first wonder of the world. To this day, for example. it is a mystery how our ancestors were able to grow grain from grass and every similar futile attempt by experts proves that cultivating nature requires a complex process.
Spinach, roots and brassicas
The cultivation of vegetables in our fields and gardens dates back to the 16th century. In addition to carrots (for stuffing sweet yeast pastries, syrup and brandy), onions, garlic, cabbage or parsley were often grown.
Cabbage was popular and eaten almost every day in the countryside - as a main dish, as a side dish and as part of cabbage soups and meatless recipes with potatoes, dumplings or legumes. Not to mention sauerkrautor sweet cabbage filling for pies. Historians therefore rightly claim that our cuisine is characterised by root vegetables in thick soups, sauces and mashes, stews and stews.
Rural people in particular relied on their own harvests, but they also knew how to use wild herbs and fruits. The word 'spinach' used to refer to the steamed leaves of plantain, nettles, lebeda, mullein, dandelion, sorrel, and all sorts of other herbs. In bourgeois cuisine, vegetables were initially seen as inferior, and this attitude has only recently begun to change in our society. Thank goodness!
Czech specials
Since the 18th century, agriculture has been fully developed in our country and the fields have been dominated by Czech regional varieties such as Bzenecký garlic, Křimické and Ploštické cabbage, onions from Vodňany, Mělnické pickles, Táborská yellow carrots, Prague giant celery or the legendary Malínský horseradish.
The first ever list of authorised varieties came into force in 1941 and new varieties are added to it every year. However, the only recurring varieties among the regional ones are 'Chives delicate Prague' or the improved varieties of lettuce 'Dětenická atrace' and 'Král máje' (King of May), and the majority of the entries are foreign or hybrid seeds.
Losses and returns
The decline of regional varieties has been blamed on industrial agriculture, which has shifted from quality to quantity and the demand for uniform varieties. However, the deterioration of the environment in some areas is also partly to blame, and the fads of the time which once emphasised orange carrots to the detriment of other coloured varieties.
Vegetables such as sugar beet or crabgrass and names that only come to mind in old literature.
For the return of the forgotten crops, enthusiastic gardeners and growers who wish to restore the beauty in diversity (of Czech cuisine) and think about tomorrow are literally kicking for the return. Because regional varieties are naturally more resistant to diseases, better adapted to the surrounding conditions and able to withstand ongoing climate change.
In the past, our country was divided into several main vegetable-growing regions, dominated by Polabí, Haná and South Moravia, whereas today we grow vegetables in almost all regions. Temperatures are shifting, and so is knowledge and thinking about the world.
Ark of taste
Raw materials and products worth preserving in the landscape and on the plate are recorded by Ark of Taste Foundation (Ark of Taste), as part of the international Slow Food organisation. The aim is to draw attention to foods that define identity and tradition of each country.
The list for the Czech Republic mentions 9 items, including Velkopavlovická apricot, Vejlímek red apple and South Moravian Oscherus, while the list of local rarities would make a book similar to the title Eating to Extinction by Dan Saladin, and includes quinces and buckwheat, which are now classified as vegetables.
6000
If we as a people had not created a cultural landscape, Europe would probably be covered in forests and would lack such diversity of species that we can admire. Scientists are even discovering that even the Amazon rainforest is to some extent a cultural forest.
By contrast, in recent years, it is man who has caused the loss of biodiversity, causing an imbalance in the ecosystem and thus in society. Just for comparison, our ancestors ate approximately 6,000 crops, while 50% of our diet consists of maize, wheat and rice which are also threatened by climate change.
The problem is caused by monocultures and the limited number of species and varieties of plants grown in the fields. Raw materials are losing their shapes and colours, nutrients and layered flavours to humans - the market is generally dominated by sweet vegetables. Fortunately, with problems come solutions.
For the record: British experts have compiled a list for every country in the world called the BII (Biodiversity Intactness Index), which expresses the intactness of species diversity in a given country. They gave the Czech Republic a score of 61.2%, which means that human activity has depleted Czech nature of almost 39% of its native species.
Manure for life
In the game for the (vegetable) future, the key is to have enough nourished soil in which the necessary micro-organisms are present. Plants can then benefit from this. Organic farmers therefore focus on compost and fertilisation which "feeds" the bacteria, fungi and microbes in the soil, thus ensuring its fertility.
Some farmers abroad refer to this approach as "living soil gardening", others speak of regenerative agriculture. In any case, they all care for the so-called rhizosphere, which can be described as a soil laboratory or the soil microbiome. It is more or less like the human gut. The microbes in our body are those that are also found in the soil and break down sugars released from plant roots as food for other soil microorganisms. These, in turn, convey substances to the plants that ultimately increase the nutritional value of the harvested fruit.
A note: The process of the plant releasing sugars through the roots is likened to breast milk feeding, which does not feed the baby directly, but its gut bacteria, and only these make the nutrients available to the body. We humans are nature too!
Human power
Sustainability means maintenance, and if we agree that human power is the most sustainable source of renewable energy in the world, then we should be nurturing humans first and foremost. The farmers who choose the demanding vegetable farming industry think about this and agree with how crucial it is to involve our hands in everyday life, but the idea also touches on other industries and crafts, including gastronomy. After all, it is the human being who farms, cooks, invents... and cultivates a space to live in.
Source: Living Land project, seminar To the Roots, publication Culinary traditions of the Moravian and Silesian regions, Culina Botanica, Natural History Museum