In reading through the COLOURlovers’ blog, it’s easy to see that food is a common inspiration for color lovers of all kinds, as well it should be! Color is probably one of the oldest tools for knowing how to navigate the ancient grocery store of the forest.

Yet as many people know, our mono-culture food system is also going monochromatic. With so much variety out there, why are our apples and tomatoes almost all red? And how did our corn get so yellow?

Why Red?

“Apples of New York,” a 2 volume encyclopedic listing of apples grown in New England during the 1800’s, lists over 1,000 varieties of apples, yet today we’re lucky if we find 10 in all the grocery stores across America and almost all of them red: Honeycrisp, Cameo, Red Delicious, Braeburn, McIntosh, Jona Gold, Fuji, Gala, Courtland, Empire, and Golden Delicious.

In the early 1900’s Washington State Apple Growers launched an expensive promotional campaign to market just one apple: The Red Delicious. Their campaign to sell the Red Delicious centered on the idea that the color red is an indication of ripeness in apples, regardless of variety.

Photo by Gracie

Growers all over the country started to select trees that produced the reddest fruit without selecting for taste or nutrient value. Because of the mono-culture around apples, today the Red Delicious is among many apples plagued by diseases and pests, making it very difficult to grow organically.

The Washington Growers didn’t choose the Red Delicious because of it’s nutritional value, or even because of it’s flavor. They chose it because it doesn’t store well and doesn’t show bruises. They chose it primarily because Washington State has the best climate in the country for growing Red Delicious apples.

Too Much Maize

Corn is another crop that has gone the way of the mono-culture. A quick internet search finds you over 100 varieties of corn, or maize, yet all we grow in this country is sweet corn and feed corn.

Photo by Jimmedia

Corn has long been a central part of the human diet in the Americas, but our current dependence on this food as a staple, additive and maybe even fuel is due to current government subsidies. With an over-abundance of corn on the market, new uses for the vegetable are being found all the time.

Though you may not know it, you probably eat corn every day. If you eat anything with sugar or anything packaged, there is probably some form of a corn product in your food. Even if you eat a Red Delicious apple, a corn-based coating is used to keep it looking shiny and delicious! Check out Micheal Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma to learn more about the effect of corn on obesity, our economy, and the beef industry.

What’s the Big Deal?

The dwindling array of colors may not disturb the average consumer, but looking at the impact our mono-culture food system has on our farm land might make them think twice.

Anyone who has spent a summer growing tomatoes knows the difference between a fresh tomato and one that’s been shipped across the country. Out in the fields of a small-scale CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm or a well-informed gardener’s backyard you will find tomatoes in orange, yellow, green, and even some with stripes! The green zebra is a delicious tomato that’s easy to grow and even easier to eat. One of the big difference you’ll find on a small scale farm is the presence of heirlooms.

Photo by Ianqui

Heirlooms & Biodiversity

Tomatoes are one of the best known heirloom vegetables because of their great color schemes and intoxicating flavor. They can range from green to purple and are sometimes even striped!

Heirlooms are plants that are open-pollinated, as opposed to a hybrid, which has been cross-bread from two different parent plants. The result is that the seeds from an heirloom plant will produce a similar plant in the next generation. The seeds from a hybrid will produce something, but it will not resemble the parent plant at all, and most likely it will not taste very good!

Photo by Autan

The other great thing about heirlooms is that they encourage bio-diversity, which increases ecosystem stability. Today’s mono-culture tomatoes, apples, and corn cannot withstand any disease or weather variation. Any change from their environment requires compensation through pesticides, fertilizers, and irrigation.

Heirlooms maintain a genetic diversity that allows a species of plant to sustain a wide range of geological shifts, pests, and diseases. Not every plant can adapt to the changes, but with a wider spectrum of genetic adaptations, each year will benefit at least a few varieties and the species will be maintained. In the big picture, that means a more stable food source for us all.

Health

Color diversity in our food also encourages better health. Colors indicate the nutrient values of our vegetables. Yellow and orange foods are high in beta-carotene which boost the immune system, which aids eye-sight. Red foods contain lycopene, which is good for fighting cancer. White foods help lower cholesterol and help the body fight infections.

Farmers’ Markets and CSAs

The best place to find a bigger color spectrum is to check out your local farmers’ market, or to join a CSA. CSAs are a new system of farming that works better for the farmer, and for local communities who want to bring bio-diversity back to their region.

Photo by Alltrain43