An Archaeobotanist Searching Art for Lost Fruit
atlasobscura.com
atlasobscura.com
An apple that quince? :-)
Look at the blue flower in the hand of the child...
She need to look at the picture in its own cultural and symbolic context. Quince, or pear quince, is a fruit associated with fertility
And then I wonder how much we're missing out on fruits lost long ago. Like, what if there could have been something else so wonderful as an avocado, in its completely own other way?
Also, seems like Asian countries all have their distinct version of aspergillus oryzae that they've domesticated, how many others are there waiting out there to dramatically change the taste of food.
If you are willing to grow you own, the Kenosha Potato Project gives sources for a few hundred: http://www.curzio.com/N/PotatoCatalog.htm
It's a very regional thing.
In Australia when I was a kid there were basically just one or two types of potatoes (other than the 'washed', 'unwashed', and 'young' varieties).
However going to Tasmania... there's dozens, maybe hundreds of varieties that you can't get outside the state.
It's the same with a bunch of things down there - apples, for instance - there's a huge variety of them that are available for maybe 2 weeks in a year, grown on a handful of small farms. Miss that window and you have to wait for the next year.
Pascoe's Dark Emu or Gammage's Biggest Estate on Earth (less fought about) are good reads in that area.