MUST SEE TV THE BOTANY OF DESIRE CHECK YOUR LOCAL LISTINGS AND GET READY TO RECORD -PBS 11 / 1 9 PM & 11 / 6 1 AM

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THE BEST FREE HEALTH INFORMATION / EVENTSWWW.TEMPLEOFILLUMINATION.NING.COM TEMPLE OF ILLUMINATIONDR. NATURAL718-783-3465MUST SEE TV "THE BOTANY OF DESIRE" CHECK YOUR LOCAL LISTINGS AND GET READY TO RECORD -PBS 11/1 9 PM & 11/6 1AM

‘Botany of Desire’ comes to television

by Stacie Greene Hidek

Michael Pollan’s book “The Botany of Desire” has been translated to television. PBS will air a special based on “a plant’s-eye view of the world” Wednesday, Oct. 28. According to local listings, it will be seen on WUNC channel 6 at 9 p.m.The special explores the human relationship with the plant world, as seen from the plants’ point of view. Narrated by Frances McDormand, the program shows how four familiar species — the apple, the tulip, marijuana and the potato — evolved to satisfy human yearnings for sweetness, beauty, intoxication and control.“ ‘The Botany of Desire’ is a perfect story for television,” said producer and director Michael Schwarz in a news release. “It takes a world we thought we knew and allows us to see it in an entirely new way.”Pollan is the program’s on-screen guide, taking viewers from the potato fields of Idaho and Peru to the apple orchards of New England; from a medical marijuana hot house to the tulip mecca of Amsterdam, where in 1637, one Dutchman, crazed with “tulip mania,” paid as much for a single bulb as the going price of a townhouse.This is the same journey Pollan takes in his book, although not always as literally (in the book he visits Idaho, New England and Amsterdam, but leaves Peru to the imagination).“We don’t give nearly enough credit to plants,” Pollan said. “They’ve been working on us — they’ve been using us — for their own purposes.”It’s a perspective not seen often — that of plants (or animals, for that matter) taking advantage of humans in their pursuit of evolutionary advances. The story of the popular apple is such an example and the one that launches the book.

Apples growing in Geneva, N.Y., orchard (Courtesy of PBS)Once the apple made its way from its home in central Asia to America, it found its ultimate promoter — John Chapman, a k a Johnny Appleseed. Chapman’s apple trees were grown from seed (not grafted, as most are today) and they bore widely diverse fruit. The often bitter apples weren’t very tasty, but they made great hard cider, which became the drink of choice for everyone from paupers to presidents.It wasn’t until after 1900 that the apple became the fruit we know today. Growers cloned the sweetest apples and marketed them as the ultimate health food, guaranteed to keep the doctor away. It’s among the most popular fruits for U.S. consumers and so has enhanced its survival by offering people what they wanted, even when it changed over time.The apple’s tale, however, is also one of a developing “monoculture,” as only a handful of varieties are cultivated today in serious numbers. The danger of a monoculture is evident in another story told in “Desire”: that of the potato.“The Irish potato famine is the great cautionary tale of putting all your eggs in one basket, and the great cautionary tale about monocultures of all kinds,” Pollan said. “It’s a parable about the importance of biodiversity and it’s a parable we forget at our peril.”I’ve written before about Pollan’s writing, reviewing “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.” Like that book, “The Botany of Desire” offers a fresh look at everyday items, only instead of looking at corn, this time its apples, tulips, marijuana and potatoes. Unless you’re a botanist with a minor in Greek mythology (Pollan carries a metaphor about Dionysus and Apollo throughout the book), I feel confident guaranteeing you’ll learn something from the book. I could have done without the mythology, and I’d recommend “Dilemma” over “Desire,” but this book was definitely worth my time.If you’re not sure you can invest the time to read the book, you can check out the PBS special Wednesday night instead. Here’s a preview:

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