Smithsonian - Perishable Pundit

I--IPot Pie Farm manager Elizabeth Beggins sells organicvegetables, garlic, onions, herbs, and cut flowers atthe St. Michaels FreshFarm Market in Maryland.Hmong farmers are thriving, selling theirfresh produce at the Minneapolis andSt Paul farmers markets.Critics argued that while these largecorporate farms raising single commoditiesmight have been good at supplying singlecrops to faraway producers, they underminedrural ways of life, environmental quality, andfood diversity. Over the course of the secondhalf of the 20th century, more and moreAmericans have agreed. They have becomeand other herbs. In Maryland, West Africantanners grow chilis. With the number ot Asianimmigrants rising sharply 111 Massachusetts, theUniversity ot Massachusetts^ extension servicehas w uiked with tanners to ensure that vegetablestraditional to Cambodian. Chinese, and Thaidiets are available through local fanners markets.1 he organic farming movement is anotherincreasingly interested in a more diverse foodtrend that has played amajor role. The rootssupply and are more engaged in questioningwhat is retened to as their food chain—thepath their food travels from farm to table.ot modern organic tanning are 111 a holisticview ot agriculture inspired by British agronomistAlbert Howard, whose An AgriculturalSeveral trends have supported areturn toTestament conceived ot soil as a system thatdiversity and sustainability.The wave of recentimmigrants from countries around the worldhas brought their food-growing traditions tothe United States. Small-scale growers havesought new models of agriculture in order toremain economically viable and to promoteneeded to be built over time. Nutritional andgood-tastmg food would come from healthysi>il I loward's ideas were popularized in theUnited States in the middle of the 20th centuryby J.I.Rodale and his son Robert Rodalethrough their magazines and organic gardeningthe crop diversity on which the diverse dietsguides. In the[960s, the counterculture readoutlined above depend. The increased diversityof American food can be seen in crops that areplanted inhome gardens and on farms. In San1 )iego, ( 'alifornia, Vietnamese gardens coverfront lawns with banana trees, lemonerass,Rodale and saw organic tanning as a way toorganize society in harmony with nature and111 rebellion against industrial capitalism.At the same time, the Peace Corps andthe declining cost ot travel abroad "ave manySMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL