The History of Fresh Produce

How did the humble date palm become entangled in the great age of empire? Why did steamships, railways, and the opening of the Suez Canal transform an ancient oasis crop into a global commodity? And how did a handful of date palms - smuggled across deserts, nearly lost to a curious dog, and later replanted in California - come to shape the modern global date industry?

Join John and Patrick for the second part of their story on the history of dates, as imperial expansion, desert espionage, and ambitious American plant hunters carry this ancient fruit from...

How did a humble desert fruit help build some of the world’s earliest civilizations? Why did ancient farmers in Mesopotamia become master matchmakers for palm trees? And how did the date palm come to symbolize life, victory, and divine blessing across the ancient world?

Join John and Patrick as they explore the astonishing origins of the date - from prehistoric hunter-gatherers and the orchards of ancient Mesopotamia, to Roman trade networks and the sacred traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In part one of this two-part series, they uncover how a single tree helped sustain empires, sh...

What does a Roman emperor’s craving for cucumbers have to do with feeding eight billion people? How did a 15th-century Korean cookbook quietly invent heated agriculture centuries before Europe’s glass palaces? And how did Victorian spectacle, world wars, hydroponic ambition, and Dutch engineering transform the greenhouse from aristocratic indulgence into global infrastructure?

Join John and Patrick as they trace the extraordinary history of climate control in the service of fresh produce - from Tiberius’s selenite-covered cucumber beds, to the heated ondol systems of the Joseon Dynasty, the imperial glasshouses of Palace of Versailles and Royal...

What was the United States government’s first move, when it decided that what Americans ate was a matter of national concern? Why, from the depths of the Civil War to the height of the culture wars, has Washington repeatedly redrawn the nation’s plate - sometimes to fight hunger, sometimes to win wars, sometimes to battle heart disease and obesity? And how did fruits and vegetables move from quiet supporting players to nutritional protagonists, caught between science, industry, and politics?

Join John and Patrick as they trace the extraordinary history of U.S. dietary guidelines - from...

What kind of fruit was designed to be swallowed whole by giant sloths? How did a sacred Mesoamerican tree become the green badge of millennial brunch culture? And how did a humble postman’s backyard seedling end up conquering global agriculture?

Join John and Patrick as they trace the astonishing history of the avocado - from the forests of ancient Mexico and the courts of the Maya and Aztec, to the chandeliers of the Alexandria Hotel, the rise of Calavo, and the accidental genius of Rudolph Hass. Along the way: plant explorers, freezes that nearly wiped out an...

What becomes of a man who spent his life moving plants, people, and power across the globe - when his own body finally begins to fail? How did Joseph Banks face his final years: in pain, in controversy, and yet still at the very center of British science? And why, after four decades at the helm of the Royal Society, did his reputation wither almost as quickly as his health?

In this seventh and final episode, John and Patrick follow Banks into his twilight: chairing meetings from a wheelchair, backing Arctic expeditions, sampling three-year-old tinned meat in...

What happens when exploration gives way to administration - and adventure turns into power? How did a royal garden become the beating heart of a global botanical empire? And how did Joseph Banks, without leaving London, reshape landscapes, economies, and diets across the world?

In this episode, John and Patrick move from the drama of ocean voyages to the quieter - but far more consequential - world of Kew Gardens, where Banks transforms botany into infrastructure, plants into policy, and seeds into instruments of empire. From globe-spanning networks of plant hunters to glasshouses, diplomacy, and even Britain’s...

How did a gentleman botanist turn a vague imperial idea into a functioning colony on the far side of the world? Why did Joseph Banks’s quiet influence matter as much as any act of Parliament or naval broadside? And how did food, plants, and fragile supply lines decide whether Britain’s most audacious colonial experiment would live or die…?

Join John and Patrick as Parliament finally commits to Botany Bay, Arthur Phillip sails with the First Fleet, and a penal colony teeters on the edge of starvation. From floating prisons and travelling greenhouses to shipwrecks, rum empire...

Fresh from fame and flush with ambition, Joseph Banks sets out to remake the world in his own image. But what happens when celebrity curdles into entitlement, when science collides with the Navy, and when one man’s colossal ego derails an imperial voyage before it even leaves port?

Join John and Patrick as Banks plans a second South Seas expedition, throws one of the great tantrums of the eighteenth century, and quietly begins his transformation from globe-trotting naturalist into the most powerful scientific fixer in Britain.

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What happens when discovery turns to disaster — and survival hangs on a sliver of luck? How close did Joseph Banks come to losing everything he had collected, and his life with it? And how did coral, disease, and chance shape one of the most important scientific voyages in history?

Join John and Patrick as the Endeavour smashes onto the Great Barrier Reef, limps into Batavia, and is transformed from a ship of discovery into a floating hospital - a brutal reminder that Banks’s botanical triumphs were forged on the very edge of catastrophe.

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What happened when Joseph Banks finally put to sea - and discovery left the comfort of gardens behind? How would a voyage meant to advance science collide with storms, suspicion, imperial rivalries, and human tragedy? And what would it cost to catalogue the natural world at the far edges of the globe?

Join John and Patrick as they follow Banks aboard HMS Endeavour, from vineyards in Madeira and standoffs in Rio de Janeiro to catastrophe in Tierra del Fuego and the intoxicating promise of Tahiti. This is science under sail: plants collected at gunpoint, lives lost to...

Who was Joseph Banks before he became the most powerful botanist in the British Empire? How did a wealthy, restless young man turn a childhood fascination with weeds into a scientific obsession that would reshape global agriculture? And why did one cold, miserable voyage to Newfoundland prove to be the spark that launched a world-changing career?

Join John and Patrick as they begin a brand-new multi-part series on Joseph Banks, tracing his early life from privileged English estates to the edge of the North Atlantic - and setting the stage for the voyages that would transform science...

Once, Switzerland was a land of pears.

When we picture the Swiss countryside today, we imagine tidy fields, precision farming, and alpine order. But not so long ago, vast stretches of eastern Switzerland were covered in towering pear trees - ancient giants that fed communities, sustained wildlife, and produced perry renowned across Europe.

So how did a nation famed for care, balance, and cultivation come to destroy eleven million fruit trees in the space of a generation?

Join John and Patrick as they unravel one of the strangest and most unsettling episodes in...

As 2025 draws to a close, we also reach the midpoint of the decade. Looking back on an eventful first half of the 2020s, we’re left with a big question: what will history remember about this era in the world of fresh produce?

In this final livestream of 2025, John and Patrick will revisit the defining moments of the past five years, unpack their historical significance, and ask whether these events will endure as true turning points - or fade into the background as intriguing but fleeting milestones.

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What do gold, frankincense, and myrrh really tell us about the world into which Jesus was born? Who were the Magi - kings, mystics, scientists, or traders - and why did they travel vast distances carrying some of the most valuable agricultural products on Earth? How do desert trees in Arabia and the Horn of Africa connect a humble birth in Bethlehem to ancient global supply chains, imperial economics, and the earliest luxury produce markets? And what happened when symbolic gifts became engines of demand, reshaping landscapes, trade routes, and even Christian worship for centuries to come?

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From incestuous wasps and prehistoric forests to sacred enlightenment, revolutionary resistance, and a certain square-shaped snack aisle icon - what if the fig is the most powerful fruit in human history?

Join John and Patrick as they trace the astonishing 80-million-year saga of the fig: its ancient pact with tiny wasps, its role in shaping ecosystems, feeding early humans, inspiring gods and emperors, fueling revolutions in Kenya, and conquering America as the mighty Fig Newton.

Was the fig humanity’s first domesticated plant? Did it help build civilizations, religions, and even our own hands? And ho...

"They say once you grow crops somewhere, you have officially colonized it. So technically, I colonized Mars. In your face , Neil Armstrong!"

As Mark Watney's line from the book and film The Martian suggests, fruits and vegetables have long played a starring role in our visions of space. Sometimes they’re subtle symbols of home; other times, they’re humanity’s only hope for survival.

But how realistic are these space gardens?

Could these crops truly grow beyond Earth - and if they could, would they be enough to sustain life?

And wh...

What does a thorny Mediterranean thistle have to do with the American Mafia? How did a humble vegetable — adored by Romans, cultivated by Renaissance queens, and grown lovingly by Italian immigrants — become the centerpiece of one of the strangest criminal rackets in U.S. history? And why did a fiery New York mayor decide that the only way to defeat organized crime… was to ban artichokes altogether?

Join John and Patrick as they trace the extraordinary saga of the Artichoke King — Ciro Terranova — the East Harlem mobster who turned produce into power. From the early Italian farmers of Califor...

What if the most valuable substance on Earth wasn’t gold, or oil, or diamonds… but bird droppings?

In the mid-19th century, guano—yes, seabird excrement—fueled an agricultural and geopolitical revolution. From the sacred islands of the Inca Empire to the docks of Victorian London and the halls of the U.S. Congress, this strange, smelly fertilizer transformed farming, powered economies, and even sparked wars. Nations fought for it, empires expanded because of it, and fortunes were made (and lost) in the race for what Victorians called “white gold.”

Join John and Patrick as they dig i...

What happens when humanity takes its most basic need - food - beyond Earth’s atmosphere? From John Glenn’s applesauce tubes to the first lettuce grown aboard the International Space Station, the story of fresh produce in space is one of science, innovation, and survival.

In this episode, John and Patrick are joined by Vickie Kloeris, former NASA Food Scientist and manager of the Space Food Systems Laboratory, to explore the fascinating evolution of eating in orbit. How did scientists first overcome the fear that astronauts might not even be able to swallow in zero gravity? Why i...

What is the legacy of Japanese American farmers in shaping California’s agricultural landscape? How did a community once barred from owning land become pioneers in strawberry and vegetable farming? And how did families like the Tanakas endure displacement, incarceration, and prejudice to rebuild—and ultimately thrive?

John and Patrick are joined by special guest Glenn Tanaka, whose family has been farming in California for generations. Together, they trace the journey of Japanese Americans who transformed the agricultural landscape of the West Coast — from small tenant plots to thriving family enterprises — and the immense challenges they faced along th...

Join John and Patrick for a special bonus episode recorded live from Anaheim, California, at the International Fresh Produce Association’s Global Produce & Floral Show!

Surrounded by the sights, sounds, and scents of the world’s freshest innovations, they sit down with four bright Cornell University students to hear their impressions of the show - and to ask a question close to their hearts: who are their favorite figures and moments in fresh produce history?

From Van Gogh’s humble potato paintings to the landmark establishment of USDA organic standards, a Supreme Court showdown over the to...

What do garlic, blackberries, cucumbers, eggplants, mushrooms, and pumpkins have in common? More than you might think. Across history and folklore, fruits and vegetables have not only nourished humanity but terrified it - linked with madness, curses, demons, vampires, and even the Devil himself. From garlic garlands that warded off the undead, to blackberries spoiled by Satan’s spit, to Japanese river demons with a fondness for cucumbers, and the pumpkin lanterns that still haunt our porches every Halloween - produce has carried meanings far darker than the dinner table.

Join John and Patrick as they explore th...

From myth and legend to cider-fuelled revolutions, from Johnny Appleseed’s frontier orchards to the Victorians’ quest for the perfect pippin, the story of the apple has been anything but ordinary. In the final part of this five-part series, John and Patrick follow the fruit onto the world stage - when refrigeration, global shipping, and empire transformed it into an international commodity. From Tasmania’s “Apple Isle” and Cecil Rhodes’s Cape orchards, to Japan’s remarkable embrace of the fruit that would one day give us the Fuji, the apple became both a tool of empire and a symbol of mode...

From the barefoot wanderings of Johnny Appleseed to the fiery kick of applejack on Civil War battlefields, the apple’s story in America takes a dramatic turn in this fourth episode of our series.

John and Patrick trace how John Chapman’s seed-planting helped shape frontier life, fueled the nation’s cider culture, and - ironically - set the stage for America’s drinking frontier. But the apple’s journey doesn’t stop there.

Across the Atlantic, the fruit was taking root in Victorian Britain, where royal tastebuds, scientific curiosity, and household culture transformed it into a symbo...

John and Patrick journey into the seventeenth century, when cider wasn’t just a drink - it was a matter of national survival. From John Evelyn’s bold call for apple orchards to secure England’s navy and replace French wine, to the early experiments that nearly made England the home of “apple champagne,” the apple takes centre stage in politics, science, and patriotism.

But apples weren’t only about orchards and fizz. This was also the age when John Milton transformed them into the forbidden fruit of Eden, when physicians and quacks alike prescribed them as medicine and...

Apples are one of those rare fruits that you can actually recognize by name. Honeycrisp, Gala, Fuji… the list seems endless.

But have you ever wondered where these names came from?

Is there an actual 'granny' behind the Granny Smith?

Was the Red Delicious truly the most delicious of all red apples?

And what about Bramley - does that name come from a person, a place, or perhaps an aristocratic family?

In this month's livestream, John and Patrick dig into a few apple varieties and explore the fascinating history be...

From the kitchens of medieval Europe to the orchards of Anglo-Saxon England, the apple became far more than just a fruit. It was medicine, it was myth, it was ritual.

In part two of our apple series, John and Patrick explore how crab apples were pressed into sharp, sour verjuice to season everything from pigs’ feet to plague remedies, how Anglo-Saxon charms and midwinter wassailing blended Christianity with ancient fertility rites, and how monks carried apple cuttings—and their spiritual symbolism—across the continent.

From the orchard-cemeteries of St. Gall to the fruit catalogues of Charle...

Where did the apple come from, and how did it go from a sour, berry-sized wild fruit to the sweet, plump star of our fruit bowls today? Was it really bears (and their sweet tooth) that shaped its destiny? How did the mountains of Kazakhstan become the apple’s Garden of Eden, and what role did nomads, traders, and even the poets of Ancient Greece play in transforming it from wild crab to cultivated treasure? And why has this fruit, more than almost any other, become so entangled in our myths, our laws, and our imaginations?

Join John...

What do Afghan purple roots, Roman aphrodisiacs, Dutch horticulturalists, and wartime propaganda have in common?

The answer: the carrot.

From its wild ancestor Daucus carota scattered across Europe 10,000 years ago, to its starring role as Britain’s unlikely weapon in the Second World War, the carrot’s journey has been anything but straightforward.

Once confused with parsnips, praised by Dioscorides for its medicinal powers, and supposedly beloved by Caligula for rather different reasons, the carrot slowly transformed from a bitter, scraggly root into the sweet orange staple we know today. Along the way it fed...

Where does soil come from? How has it shaped the rise (and fall) of human civilizations? And why is it now at the center of some of the most urgent debates about food, farming, and the environment?

Join John and special guest Louis De Jaeger - landscape architect, author, and agro-ecology advocate - as they dig into the history of soil. Together, they trace the story of soil from the birth of the Earth’s crust to the collapse of ancient empires. They explore how the forced removal of Indigenous peoples and their agricultural wisdom devastated soils in...

In this special collaboration with History Daily, we present a double feature exploring two pivotal moments in history.

First, you’ll hear the story of Lewis and Clark’s return after successfully completing the first U.S. overland journey to the Pacific Ocean.

Then, you’ll learn how French biologist Louis Pasteur developed a method of heating liquids to destroy harmful bacteria - a process that would come to bear his name.

Hear more episodes from History Daily here.

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On July 8th, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced that the administration is determined to reclaim farmland owned by what it calls "foreign adversaries" and to establish a "100% American workforce" in agriculture.

But how much U.S. farmland is actually owned by foreign governments?

When did this trend begin?

Has there ever truly been a 100% American agricultural workforce?

And when did immigrants first begin working on American farms?

In this month’s livestream, John and Patrick dive into the historical roots of these questions, unpack the claims made by...

What became of the Lewellings - the visionary brothers who transformed the American West one orchard at a time?

In the final episode of our six-part series, John and Patrick return to the verdant hills of Napa and the fertile valleys of Oregon to chart the triumphs and tragedies that defined the twilight of the Lewelling legacy.

As phylloxera silently strangles California’s vineyards, John Lewelling rises to the challenge with pioneering grafting techniques - only to fall to illness just as his wine career reaches its zenith. Meanwhile, Seth Lewelling’s quieter revolution unfolds in O...

What happens when your orchards begin to rot, your industry collapses, and California starts beating you at your own game? If you're Seth Lewelling, you plant harder - and you get political with your cherries.

In this episode, John and Patrick trace the dramatic unraveling of Oregon’s once-thriving fruit economy and the quiet resilience of Seth Lewelling, whose visionary grafting experiments - including the boldly named Black Republican cherry - became acts of agricultural resistance. As Oregon wilted, California soared, and the Lewellings were right there at the epicenter of both decline and rebirth.

Fr...

California, 1853. Henderson Lewelling sets off to sell apples and ends up sparking a revolution.

In this fourth episode of our multi-part series, John and Patrick trace the astonishing rise of the Lewelling family in California’s fruit frontier. They follow Henderson’s ambitious leap from Oregon to Alameda, where he builds the legendary Fruit Vale estate, and his brother John’s transformation of a Spanish mission orchard into a commercial powerhouse of cherries, currants, and citrus.

But as fortunes bloom, tensions mount. Henderson becomes entangled in free love, clairvoyants, and a failed utopian voyage to Hondur...

It’s 1848, and amid the towering firs and scorched stumps of Oregon’s Willamette Valley, a revolution in American agriculture quietly takes root. In this third installment of our epic Lewelling saga, John and Patrick trace the extraordinary efforts of Henderson Lewelling as he establishes one of the Pacific Northwest’s first grafted fruit orchards - alongside his ambitious partner William Meek.

As they plant the seeds of what would become a booming nursery industry, the nurserymen face a harsh frontier, personal loss, and complex moral questions - navigating everything from spiritual awakenings to land disputes with the U...

What kind of person looks at the treacherous Oregon Trail and says, “You know what would make this even harder? Let’s drag 700 fruit trees with us”?

In this episode, John and Patrick continue the epic tale of the Lewelling family - radical Quakers, abolitionists, and horticultural pioneers - as they pack up their Iowa homestead and begin one of the most improbable journeys in American history: a rolling orchard bound for Oregon.

From oxen-dragged nursery wagons to the disease-ridden banks of the Platte River, from frostbitten saplings near South Pass to a hand-built boat on the...

How did a quiet Quaker family from North Carolina - devout, disciplined, and disinclined to dance - go on to revolutionize the fruit industry of the American West? Who were the Lewellings, and how did their deep-rooted values, obsession with grafting, and fierce opposition to slavery shape the orchards of Oregon, the nurseries of Iowa, and the future of American agriculture?

Join John and Patrick as they peel back the layers of one of the most extraordinary and overlooked sagas in American history. From humble beginnings in the red clay of the Carolinas to pioneering nurseries on...

In the shadow of revolution, a campaign of quiet devastation unfolded. While Washington’s Continental Army fought British redcoats along the eastern seaboard, a very different war was being waged in the lush valleys of upstate New York. It was not a war for cities or forts but for orchards, granaries, and the very soil beneath Seneca feet.

Join John and Patrick as they unearth the harrowing truth behind the Sullivan Expedition - a scorched-earth campaign ordered by George Washington to annihilate the agricultural heartland of the Iroquois Confederacy.

With orders to destroy not only vi...