Einkorn is much more

The following is an excerpt from Slow Food Nation, written by Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food International.

‘The strong impulse toward high productivity in agriculture on a largely industrial basis has led to a rapid selection- not only by natural means, but also through hybridization of new vegetable and animal varieties that suit the new production processes of our era. Studies give data on the loss of biodiversity in the US alone.

• 80.6% of tomatoes became extinct between 1903-1983
• 92.8% of lettuce varieties
• 86.2% of apples varieties
• 90.8% of field corn
• 96.1% of sweet corn
• Of 5,000 varieties of potatoes, only four are vastly cultivated for commercial purposes
• 2 types of peas account for 96% of cultivation
• 6 types of corn for 71% of the total

Natural selection, which farmers traditionally carried out after each harvest by putting aside the seeds of the plants that had the best characteristics, is scarcely practiced any longer. Seeds are now bought year by year from the firms that have developed the varieties that give a more abundant harvest: the objectives are quantity at all costs and resistance to the herbicides which are often produced by the seed industries themselves. Twelve thousand years of gradual selection made by the farmers have been wiped out in a mere fifty years in the pursuit of commercial targets.’

Jovial’s strives to do things differently, from seed to shelf, because we recognize the harm that industrial agriculture has had on the food we eat. We hope for a brighter future when more food is grown sustainably, plant biodiversity is cherished and there is great respect given to the consumer. Food should be full of flavor because flavor equals nutrition and when food is nutritious, people eat less and feel satisfied.  

Einkorn is grown with very low-impact, sustainable farming methods and actually performs better without irrigation and fertilization. Einkorn is considered a relic grain because it is rarely cultivated today, making it a newly available food that promotes biodiversity.Einkorn survived on its own for 12,000 years, never touched by modern technology, remaining one of the few ‘true’ foods from the past.