With Vavilov poised to enter Abyssinia, we rejoin Gary Paul Nabhan, at Siwa Oasis because Vavilov couldn’t be.
One key factor [in fostering the conservation of agricultural diversity in the oasis] is that the traditional mix of crops grown within a multi-storied oasis garden offers Siwans a measure of resilience that industrial monoiculture of grains or even of olives could not offer. In years of drought, when flowing water ebbs and soil alkalinity rises, Siwan farmers can plant fewer of the salt-sensitive annual crops, falling back on their more hardy perennials for food. In more favorable years, when drought, locust plagues or hot spells are minimized, they can add in more diversity under the protective canopy of their dates. However, few vegetable varieties introduced from the U.S. or Europe can withstand the heat or soil alkalinity that Siwa’s biladi vegetables routinely tolerate. Because of these special environmental constraints, most Siwan farmers and gardeners still rely on the heirloom varieties that have stood the test of time.
Finally, Siwans are extremely proud of their traditional cuisine, which relies heavily on the particular mix of flavors, colors, textures, and fragrances that their own biladi varieties offer. Their local hibiscus flowers are yellow, not red, and are aesthetically preferred over the red karkadeeh flowers used as a tea throughout the rest of Egypt. The red hibiscus is now transported to Siwa in large quantities, where it is sold for cheaper prices, but Siwans still prefer their yellow variety. The traditional biladi heirlooms of the Berbers are known locally as bi-Siwi vegetables, fruits and flowers, those of the Siwan people, belonging to them as much as their own bodies do. In contrasting their own culture with that of the Cairene Arabic culture of the Nile, the Berber people of Siwa point out that their own foods are both better adapted to their oasis and more healthful as a diet. As long as a cultural community values such traditional foods for such reasons more than they value the lower price tags on imported foods, such culinary traditions will persist.
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