The usual exotic. The history of the plants we eat

The absolute majority of plants that surround us in the gardens and gardens are strangers that we are used to, that we love and consider our own. The same situation is happening in our refrigerators.

Botanist Oleksiy Kovalenko's new book introduces us to the world through fruits and vegetables: from anise, figs and melons to basil, kiwi and lychee, from the Mediterranean and China to Australia, Argentina and Canada.

Oleksii explains why some people hate the smell of cilantro so much and how to make wine from parsnips, explains how certain types of plants were domesticated and how they got into our garden and onto the table.

Oleksiy Kovalenko is a botanist, the author of the books "Fruits against vegetables. Why a watermelon is not a berry, and a tomato is a fruit", "Alien plants. How hogweed and ambrosia take over the Earth" and "Planet of mushrooms. How mushrooms feed, heal and kill us." Works at the National Natural Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.