Quotes from Jo Robinson

Most native plants are also higher in protein and fiber and much lower in sugar than the ones we've devised. The ancestor of our modern corn is a grass plant called teosinte that is native to central Mexico. Its kernels are about 30 percent protein and 2 percent sugar. Old-fashioned sweet corn is 4 percent protein and 10 percent sugar. Some of the newest varieties of supersweet corn are as high as 40 percent sugar.

Because the bulbs had so many important uses, tribes could be very protective of their allium fields. The Menominee Nation of the Great Lakes region laid claim to an extensive field of wild garlic, or ramps, that was located on the southern tip of Lake Michigan. The area was so rife with ramps that their odor perfumed the air for miles. The Menominee called their prized field Shikako, or "skunk place." The name lives on today in its anglicized form, Chicago.

Now it is known that we cannot absorb some of the most important nutrients in salad greens unless the dressing or the meal it's eaten with contains some type of fat. Olive oil, according to a 2012 Purdue University study, does the best job of making those compounds more bioavailable. It takes almost seven times more soybean oil, by contrast, to get the same results. Soybean oil is the most common oil in commercial salad dressings.

When it comes to beer, we are the world's wimps. There