Like Lemons? Quinoa? Thank This Food Explorer For Bringing Them To Your Plate
In the early 20th century, botanist David Fairchild traveled the world and brought plants back to the U.S. that we now see as thoroughly American. NPR talks with the author of a book on Fairchild.
Botanist David Fairchild grew up in Kansas at the end of the 19th century. He loved plants, and he loved travel, and he found a way to combine both into a job for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
At the age of 22, he created the Section of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction of the USDA, and for the next 37 years, he every continent except Antarctica and brought back mangos, quinoa, dates, cotton, soybeans, bamboo and the flowering Japanese cherry trees that blossom all over Washington D.C. each spring, as well as hundreds of other plants.
