In this episode James Wong learns how there’s nothing weirder and more wonderful than the everyday.
Hear about the depression trials that have seen sufferers tripping on magic mushrooms, and the zombie fungus that causes ants to explode.
Fungi may get a bad press for growing on your shower curtain or fridge, but there’s so much more to this amazing kingdom, so we gave it a whole episode.
James meets mycologists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to hear about the amazing collections and some of the mysteries only just being uncovered; from your porcini to your laundry
Subscribe to Unearthed: Mysteries from an unseen world on your podcast app to get a new episode each fortnight.
And you can share the show or join the conversation on social media with the hashtag #KewUnearthed.
Follow @kewgardens for more insights into the magical, mysterious world of plants and fungi.
 
www.kew.org See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Zombies, tripping and the everyday normality of fantastic fungi

The way we produce and consume food is having a devastating impact on our natural world.
How can we avoid disaster, and feed the world well?
Unearthed: Journeys into the future of food, from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, explores our contemporary relationship with food: what are we eating? What is it doing to our health and the health of the planet? And how are livelihoods and agriculture changing before our eyes?
Take a journey around the world: from farming practises and biodiversity loss, to finding crops that can thrive in the face of climate change, all the way to our own shopping baskets and kitchens.
James Wong, Advolly Richmond and Poppy Okocha bring you insights, ideas and inspirational actions from artists, thinkers, chefs and  plant scientists who are all helping to make sure food and nature are secure and healthy for future generations.
Episodes 1 and 2 of this series will be released on Thursday 6th October 2022. You can catch up on the previous series of Unearthed - Mysteries From an Unseen World - right now on this podcast channel.
You can find out more about how Kew Science is helping to protect global food security by visiting kew.org.
Inspired by this series? Get involved online with #KewUnearthed
@kewgardens on Twitter
@kewgardens on Instagram
 

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To round off this series, we’re heading into our own kitchens and examining how our food choices can make for better health and a better world. 
Advolly Richmond is joined by plant scientists and top chefs to ask how the food industry can help challenge inequality and imbalances in our food systems, and how we can all make a difference, starting in our own kitchens. 
Plant medicine expert Dr Melanie Jayne Howes explains how the chemicals in some plant foods have long served to ease ailments and improve health, and how we can look to the wild as a living medicine cabinet. 
And Dr Megan Rossi, the Gut Health Doctor, unveils the incredible power of plants to support our gut microbiome, which we’re only just starting to realise can play a big part in great mental health. And the good news is that she doesn’t believe in cutting out the foods you love – just add plants! 
When it comes to global and national food trends and fashions, our restaurants and industry leaders have a big responsibility and influence. That's why we wanted to talk to some top chefs for their perspectives.
Chef Tom Hunt is author of “Eating for Pleasure, People and Planet” and an advocate for growing whatever you can to help connect with the origins of food – even if all you have is a windowsill. He explains how beans and pulses can improve your carbon footprint and discusses a future where we can prioritise both people and the environment in our food systems.
Chantelle Nicholson owns Apricity restaurant in London. She shares her ethos for using regenerative food and embracing a circular economy all the way through to the supply chain of what goes on diner’s plates.  
Founder of West African Food Brand Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen, Zoe Adjonyoh shares her story of starting an ethical food business. From its roots cooking her Dad’s Ghanaian dishes, she tracks the story of supper clubs to sustainable and decolonised food, whilst educating people from outside food communities to embrace and enjoy world food and flavours. 
And low-waste, planted-based chef Max La Manna invites us into his kitchen to hear about the 5 most wasted foods in the UK, and how you can turn them into some delicious, easy recipes! 
You can find out more about how Kew Science is helping to protect global food security by visiting kew.org. 
Inspired by this series? Get involved online with #KewUnearthed 
@kewgardens on Twitter 
@kewgardens on Instagram  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Food, Health and Wellbeing in Daily Life

If you have a window box, veg patch or allotment, how does the way you are growing food change your relationship with it? 
In this episode of Unearthed, grower and forager Poppy Okocha hears how communities and farmers are producing food around the world, with the environment and changing climates in mind.  
Food educator, agriculturalist and cook Dee Woods joins Dr Caroline Cornish to discuss how our modern relationship with food has distanced us from its production and the processes involved. Poppy meets a community growing project at Kew that’s benefitting from the powerful relationships and mental wellness benefits of getting to grips with the soil. 
Kew Scientists Dr Nicola Kuhn and Dr Tiziana Ulian discuss how traditional growing practises can revive and enliven palates and local economies via sustainable, local crops. And Dr Caspar Chater tells how the humble bean could be a key part of the fight against global hunger and malnutrition. 
You can find out more about how Kew Science is helping to protect global food security by visiting kew.org. 
Inspired by this series? Get involved online with #KewUnearthed 
@kewgardens on Twitter 
@kewgardens on Instagram 
  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How Should We Be Growing Food?

With so many of our favourite foods facing extinction, including bananas, chocolate and coffee, what will be on our kitchen tables in the future?
In this episode, James Wong looks at what actions we need to take today, to secure nutritious and disease-resilient food in the future.
Hear from artists and designers Sharp and Sour on how they create installations to shock the public into the realities of food’s future plight.
Dr Carly Cowell explains how it’s not just the varieties of foods we eat that are dwindling, but their nutritional content too, and warns of the impact this can have upon our health and wellbeing. We head to Wakehurst in Sussex to find out how scientists are exploring the adaptabilities of different kinds of banana, before Jack Plummer explains the plight of our beloved yellow friend in the Palm House back at Kew in London.
And in Wakehurst’s Bethlehem Wood, two scientists explore a very exciting art installation: Flea and Folly Architect’s The False Banana Pavilion which looks at Enset: a well-known staple in parts of Ethiopia that could help challenge world hunger and provide a varied and nutritious solution in difficult climate conditions.
Dr James Borrell and Dr Wenawek Abede explore this work in response to their research, and explain why diversity and variety are just so important in feeding the world.
Did you know that fire may be a man-made problem in many cases, but in others, it’s a vital part of the natural development of ecosystems? Dr Ellie Wilding looks at how plants develop remarkable survival techniques in the face of this ever-increasing global phenomenon.
And from the cloud-forests of Colombia, all the way to Edible Science: Kew’s Kitchen Garden, James Wong finds out how unique ecosystems and practices can teach us all how to farm, grow and eat more sustainably. Botanical Horticulturist and plot pioneer Helena Dove also has some tips for any home growers looking for inspiration from around the world. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Foods of the Future

This time, Poppy Okocha’s looking at our relationship with growing and producing foods around the world. She meets up with Jeremy Torz, one of the founders of Union Hand Roasted Coffee, to find out how one coffee brand is protecting producers and delicate environments in Ethiopia.
Many livelihoods and traditions are being threatened by changing climatic conditions, yet many of these age-old practises hold clues to how we might produce food more sustainably and fairly in the future. This episode is packed with inspirational stories of how farmers are able to produce crops without sacrificing their local environments or livelihoods.
Artist Helen Law explains how she explored our relationship with food from patch to plate, and was inspired by Kew Science and x-rays of some of the 2.4 billion seeds from the Millennium Seed Bank.
Meanwhile Dr Aisyah Faruk tells how the foraging livelihoods of people in the Caucasus region are under threat in the face of climate change.
Dr Mami Tiana Rajaonah heads up Kew’s Livelihoods team at the Kew Madagascar Conservation Centre. He shares how they worked with villages to change the habits of generations and cultivate yams sustainably whilst creating a thriving local economy.
And Farmerama presenter Abby Rose shares the story of her family’s heartbreaking struggle against forest fires on their farm in Chile, as well as the insights she gained from developing a regenerative farming approach in rebuilding a thriving and healthy farm, starting with soil health! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Agriculture and Livelihoods

Advolly Richmond is exploring how food production methods and climate change today are exacerbating issues of biodiversity loss. As conditions change and human activity intervenes with environments, entire ecosystems are thrown out of balance, and the consequences for species are dire.
We could be losing plants and species science hasn’t even named, all due to harmful agricultural practises and accelerating climate change.
But Kew scientists and partners around the world are working to conserve species before it’s too late, by seeking out their wild relatives that have properties that can withstand the conditions of the future.
We travel from the mountains of Sierra Leone to track down a rare but resilient wild coffee variety, to deep underground in rural Sussex, where Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank is conserving the world’s seeds for future science at Wakehurst. Dr Elinor Breman gives us a tour of this biodiverse bunker, and her colleague Dr Aisyah Faruk explains her work tracking down wild relatives of fruit and nut species in Georgia and Armenia.
But it’s not just about finding alternative crops, as food journalist Dan Saladino explains: crop monocultures are leaving foods and ecosystems vulnerable to pests and disease.
Meanwhile Dr Caspar Chater is in Edible Science: Kew’s Kitchen Garden, ready to explain how a more diverse approach to what we eat can help save the world, and Professor Phil Stevenson tells us about his work with pollinators, the critical species that make so much of food production possible. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Zombies, tripping and the everyday normality of fantastic fungi

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