The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats

I have been a fan of David Fairchild since I read his "The World Was My Garden" when I was 17, 50 years ago. Now I am a Professor Emeritus of Horticulture and was greatly disappointed by the author's Horticultural bloopers. Fairchild did not find blood oranges in Mongolia (p13); Nectarines are not tropical (p13); Carissa does not have "white leaves that resemble those of a tropical Plumeria," but white flowers like Plumeria; twice the muddled description of V shaped citrus stems; etc. He also does not seem to have an understanding of basic science either.There were other bloopers that any decent editor should have caught: you sail east from the Red Sea to Java, not west; the first world cities were founded in Iraq, not Egypt; Egypt is not in "The Fertile Crescent;" Niagra is not "the grandest of all waterfalls;" etc.I had really looked forward to savoring this book and renewing my acquaintance with Fairchild, but between the mistakes and style, reading it was a chore.This author writes for National Geographic?Since I am gay I found the comments on Fairchild's early patron and gay life in the period interesting and sympathetic, but otherwise the book was a big miss for me.I imagine that the book was a good read for people with minimal plant knowledge, but most generally educated readers would be put off by the general knowledge mistakes.This book does no service to the reputation of journalists!

The author did an excellent job of telling a story, lionizing the efforts of David Fairchild to bring novel plants to the United States. Fairchild’s story justifies being told, and Stone writes it with energy and a clear sympathy for his subject. In the process, however, he makes Fairchild something of a martyr for what is portrayed as a purely noble cause – bringing global plant diversity to the United States. Those who stand in Fairchild’s way are portrayed as bureaucratic and xenophobic bogeymen. Of course, reality is never that simple and the truth rests in the middle. Fairchild was kind enough to leave behind extensive personal writings and reflections that paint a remarkable career and story. His erstwhile friend and antagonist in the book, Charles L. Marlatt, did not leave behind such a fruitful source of personal reflections and so interpreting him is rather more difficult.Marlatt’s antipathy for unregulated importation of plants was grounded in his considerable experience (and in the fact that virtually all of Europe had already installed quarantine laws on plant importations). Marlatt had had extensive experience dealing with devastating insects that had arrived in the US accidentally or intentionally via transport from other countries, and he was deeply concerned about the future of US agriculture and its competitiveness globally if exotic pests arrived unsupervised – a position advocated by Fairchild for much of his career. This led to understandable conflict between the two men.Stone casts Marlatt as a vengeful zealot and deceitful ogre, hellbent on stopping Fairchild from benefiting the country. For example, on page 262, Stone alleges “Marlatt claimed the [cotton boll weevil] was responsible for the spread of typhus, yellow fever, and malaria.” He continues, “These claims weren’t backed by science, but that hardly mattered.” To support this claim he cites a secondary reference, “American Iconographic” by Stephanie L. Hawkins (2010, University of Virginia Press). Citing a secondary reference for such material is poor form by itself, but to further complicate matters, Hawkins makes no such claims for Marlatt anywhere in her book, let alone on the pages Stone cites (88-89). Perhaps Stone mis-cited his reference and is aware of such claims in other materials, but in my (granted, rather limited) study of Marlatt I have not found such comments by him. I would hope that Stone didn’t allow his personal disdain for Marlatt to blossom into exaggerated false statements. Regardless, his claim is a very serious one when directed at a prominent scientist like Marlatt, and deserves to be accurately referenced. If there are no primary references supporting that claim, then an apologetic correction is in order.Marlatt was certainly not an easy man to get along with (see “American Entomologists’, by Arnold Mallis, pp. 86-94), but he also was an excellent scientist and not prone to lie. Nevertheless, Marlatt’s forceful and aloof personality, and lack of warm personal records and memoirs make him easy to vilify, especially when juxtaposed with Fairchild’s exuberance and warmth. It is easy to understand how Stone could be drawn to Fairchild and put off by Marlatt.In the end, both Fairchild and Marlatt made their marks. Fairchild masterminded many valuable plant introductions, and Marlatt was able to devise legislation and mechanisms for quarantining plant materials entering the country. Thus, we have many benefits of imported plants, and quarantines and inspections have greatly reduced the arrival of new pests – although they continue to come (among insects - emerald ash borer, Asian longhorned beetle, brown marmorated stink bug, kudzu bug, and spotted wing Drosophila among others in recent years). And having people smuggle plant parts back into the country, as Stone reports he himself did in his epilogue, undermines the efforts of both men. Ironically, his acknowledgments section begins with an expression of thanks for those who farm. If he had brought back a pathogen of cherries with his smuggled tree cuttings, the cherry farmers may not have been so appreciative of him. We don’t need another citrus greening disease decimating another fruit industry in the US. Thankfully, Stone’s cherry cuttings died.In summary, Stone wrote a very readable and informative book, but it is not without errors and bias, so reader be warned.

This is a magical book set in a magical time full of fascinating people, stories and events. All of it is true and extremely well researched. Safe to say it is riveting and entertaining to read, educational as well. I'll admit to being partial to the man and his work since once upon a time many years ago I was a tour-guide at the Garden bearing his name and later first Curator of Tropical Fruit . Back then we had to learn about Fairchild's life's work and I often wished someone would write just such a book as Daniel Stone has. So it all came true.

I'd heard about this book on NPR so I bought it and I love it. I'm a retired chef and the selections of foods we're blessed with are easy to take for granted and I found this not only fascinating but a good read.Some authors writing style when it comes to subjects like this can bore the crap out of me, this one's easy and entertaining as well as informative.

Thoroughly enjoyable read! I've never wondered about where our food came from until reading this book. After reading it, I now see and remember the stories for how we got a lot of the food that is standard within our American diet. This book is rare in that it is non-fiction, but it reads like a fiction story. It's hard to put down and it makes you appreciate the great lengths that people went through even before the existence of legitimate transportation infrastructure in order to send seeds and properly grow a whole lot of foods that have really impacted so many lives. A great read and well put together. I was sad when it was over because I wanted it to be longer :)

Great read. We didn't have much here in the late 19th century in the way of food. We inherited English food, but let's be serious, it is bland and unimaginative. So Mr. Fairchild, working for the government, traveled the world and sent back seeds and cuttings of all kinds of things. I just never really thought about this. Without this work, our agriculture would never have flourished like it did. Then, we had insect and scale problems that had to be monitored and fought. We fought with lady bugs that weren't from here either! Really enjoyed this.

The author is a good speaker and tells an exciting yarn but the book is not as good. A bit dry.

Interesting read with some jewels of information.