Adam Alexander is a consummate storyteller thanks to forty years as an award- winning film and television producer, but his true passion is collecting rare, endangered but, above all, delicious vegetables from around the world. He lectures widely on his work discovering and conserving rare, endangered garden crops, is a board member of the national charity Garden Organic, and his knowledge and expertise on growing out vegetables for seed is highly valued by the Heritage Seed Library, for which he is a seed guardian. Adam shares seeds with other growers and gene banks in the USA, Canada and the EU, and he is currently growing out seed of heritage Syrian vegetables to be returned to the Middle East as part of a programme to revive traditional horticulture. He has appeared on Gardeners’ World and the Great British Food Revival, CNN’s Going Green and Radio New Zealand. Follow him on Twitter @vegoutwithadam.
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Why does it matter that we care about where our food comes from and how does this knowledge empower us to feel and be part of the solution to creating a more resilient and healthier world?
It starts with an understanding of the global impact we have on the choices we make about what we grow and eat. As a storyteller, collecting seeds from around the world and then being able to bring them back into my garden and with them their stories, connects me with the world in a quite unique way. The journey from their world to mine and how their stories inform a way to approach and achieve solutions to a more sustainable future is at the heart of this talk.
You don’t need to be a gardener to enjoy fresh and healthy produce – although it helps! But, reconnecting ourselves to our food culture which is as old as the earliest civilisations, through understanding and identifying with cuisine that reinforces our sense of self, is a fundamentally empowering action. In my career as a successful film and television producer, I have recognised the often visceral relationship that traditional societies everywhere have with what they grow and eat. It is fundamental to their sense of place, purpose and community. In our busy, working lives, food is too often just a convenient fuel, and its place in our culture is fading. Recognising and celebrating our place in the continuum from seed to plate, that has been fundamental to the growth and diversity of civilisation going back millennia helps ground and inspire us. The health outcomes are apparent too. Better food equates to better health; a closer connection to the land equates to better wellbeing; above all, great food as a precious part of our identity makes us happy.
Entertaining and informative, in this talk I explore, through the power of narrative and storytelling, the positive impact we can all have in a world where we so often feel helpless to be part of change. In an engaging and inspirational presentation I share my enthusiasm, belief and personal experience of the positive impact to our self-esteem an understanding of how and why we are connected to food culture and production through thousands of years of shared history equips us to make better choices towards a sustainable future and our own well-being.
The Seed Detective
– Uncovering the Secret Histories of Remarkable Vegetables
