Of Carrots and a disappearing seed stock

As if it's not enough to contend with fascist foreign policies in our part of the world, we now have to contend with the battle to control the food we eat.
Watch out for the 'terminator seed' of Monsanto and its ilk;
or is it already upon us?

I have long searched for the elusive Jordanian carrot;
the one that used to grow on the plains of Moab, near Madaba.
Crisp, tasty and fresh – the one with a natural sweet flavour;
But alas, our indigenous seed stock is threatened,
and the humble Jordanian carrot is no-more;
replaced with acidic replicas from all over
Bulgaria I heard was one source, Turkey another, and who knows where
this batch comes from.
They just don't taste the same anymore.

With tampering and modifying, genetically and otherwise,
what are we really eating these days, does anybody know?

And what of the tomatoe?
Gone down the same sorry road?

Over two decades ago I heard whispers of seed experimentation down in the Jordan valley, and was concerned then. But since the floodgates of agricultural imports/technology/commercial hitmen entered the indigenous market, that succulent, juicy, delicious and almost affectionately ugly tomato, is now also gone; assigned to the memory of those old enough to remember …
… how it used to make a delicious 'galayat bandora', at a price everyone could afford.

Needless to say, I rarely buy tomatoes these days.
They simply look too fake! J

http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/266/59/

http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.cfm