The Seed Detective - Uncovering the Secret Histories of Remarkable Vegetables

Discovering the crops that will feed us all in a changing world

Across the world, chefs, farmers, plant scientists and everyday growers are doing something extraordinary: creating new generations of fruit, vegetables and cereals that will flourish locally, taste delicious, increase diversity and contribute to a sustainable and robust food future.

In The Accidental Seed Heroes, Adam Alexander dons his seed- detective homburg to meet these twenty-first century seed heroes, who are not only championing traditional varieties but also breeding delicious new ones that will be more resilient and better-equipped to deal with the shocks of a changing climate.

Taking us around the world to meet some of the most inspiring seed heroes – from Rajasthan, India, to his own back garden in Wales, across Europe to the remote regions of southern Albania, and into Ethiopia’s Great Rift Valley – Adam reminds us that Indigenous cultures and rural communities have been expertly breeding seeds for millennia.

At its heart, The Accidental Seed Heroes is a celebration of locally and sustainably grown produce, whether traditional or innovative, that is the foundation of all our food cultures. Adam shows that the ability to save and adapt seeds should be a right for all, not something to be controlled by corporations patenting seeds for profit; that everyone who grows food, whether amateur or professional, can be a seed hero – building resilience and returning fertility to our soils and biodiversity to our land.

Ever wonder how peas, kale, asparagus, beans, squash and sweetcorn ended up on our plates? Well, so did I.

My passion for collecting and growing unusual vegetables was ignited when I tasted an unusual sweet pepper with a fiery heart while on a film-making project in Ukraine. Smitten, began to seek out local growers of endangered heritage and heirloom varieties in a mission to take home seeds to grow and share so that I could enjoy their delicious taste – and save them from being lost forever.

We are a nation of vegetable growers and this book explores the wonderful world of rare and endangered heritage and heirloom vegetables – and why we must keep growing them and saving their seed, not only for our gardening and culinary pleasure, but to pass these stories on – vegetables are truly our history on a plate.

Also available in the U.S.A and Canada

The covers may be different but the content is the same.

In The Seed Detective, I share my own stories of seed hunting, with the origin stories behind many of our everyday vegetable heroes. Taking us on a journey that began when we left the life of the hunter-gatherer to become farmers, I tell tales of globalisation, political intrigue, colonisation and serendipity – describing how these vegetables and their travels have become embedded in our food cultures.