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Cultivating culturally relevant crops may be the answer to making local eating more accessible and adapting gardens to our warming climate.
On a recent visit to Queens, New York, I noticed that in small front yards, alleyways, and over-door trellises, many people were growing unusual vegetables and fruits not commonly seen in U.S. gardens. Food plants like luffa gourd vines native to Africa, Armenian snake cucumbers, Cornelian cherries used in Turkish and Persian cuisines, and chayote squash vines from Mexico and Central America were tucked into every nook and cranny.
That brought back memories of my grandparents’ garden in New York City and my dad’s garden in Rochester, New York. Growing vegetables and herbs for our Lebanese and Jewish recipes is a big deal in my family. I still grow several plants passed down through my family, so I know that having a cultural connection provides motivation for gardening and cooking at home.
It’s tradition, but it’s also a growing trend across the U.S. Among those leading the charge are a Queens community garden that focuses on ethnic vegetables in demand among immigrant communities in the surrounding neighborhood, and a pair of plant breeders at the University of Minnesota who are collaborating with community members to develop African vegetable seeds adapted to the northern U.S. climate.
An International Garden in Queens
In 2020, Isabel Mallet and her neighbors realized that two “weird triangular patches” on a bridge over the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway could be transformed into a garden. According to neighborhood lore, an elderly Chinese immigrant had farmed the patches of land in the 1990s and early 2000s, but after he left or passed away, “I think they’d just been dirt for a long time,” Mallet says.
With Queens ranking as one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world — around 800 languages are spoken within city limits — the surrounding neighborhood includes people from dozens of countries. Many of them are hungry for food from home.
With support from the International Rescue Committee, neighbors started up New Roots Queens, a community garden focused on growing plants from members’ countries of origin in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
Some of these vegetables, like roselle leaves used in Tibetan and South Asian stir-fries, are “really sought after, because you can’t buy [them] here,” Mallet says. Other vegetables are shipped to the U.S. in a frozen or dried form, but growing them locally offers a fresher and more environmentally friendly option. Some of the herbs growing at New Roots Queens, Mallet adds, are available in stores but are expensive, so gardening gives more people the access to cook flavorful food at home.
What garden members grow has “also changed over the years because of our soil, which is not very good,” Mallet explains. Some common veggies, like tomatoes, don’t grow well in New Roots’ difficult urban gardening environment, and the warming climate adds another challenge. Garden members have adapted by growing plants that tolerate drought, heat, and humidity. “Interestingly, that also sort of aligns with what we want [to do],” she says. “And so we’re trying to experiment, to be weirder with what we grow.”
Mallet gave the example of lablab beans, which a Bangladeshi couple brought to the garden. The tropical beans grow “extremely, extremely well — massive yields and zero pests, and they’re really good for the soil,” she says. “We just love them. A lot of other beans will get aphids and this and that, but they’re just immune to everything.”
After years of learning from immigrant gardeners, Mallet says she’s learned to recognize the value of edible plants like lambsquarters, which some gardeners may dismiss as weeds. This has given her the opportunity to educate others. “When new people come in and they’re like ‘rip it all out!’ I say, ‘You can’t do that!’”
Growing African Vegetables in Minnesota
At the University of Minnesota, an ethnic vegetable project is connecting community members with academic plant breeders. The project began in 2021 as a response to demand: Immigrants and people with close ties to East or West Africa wanted access to African vegetables but had trouble finding them.
“People from all over the country have traveled to this area to try to get access to these vegetables [by showing up] at farmer’s markets really early,” Kayla Grennes says.
Garden members have adapted by growing plants that tolerate drought, heat, and humidity. ‘Interestingly, that also sort of aligns with what we want [to do],' Isabel Mallet says. ‘And so we’re trying to experiment, to be weirder with what we grow.'
Grennes and Frenzee Pammit, both graduate students at the university, are current co-leads on the Community Plant Breeding Team, advised by Professor Rex Bernardo.
The team aims to develop African vegetable seeds that are adapted to the growing conditions of the northern U.S., including Ethiopian mustard, cleome, jute mallow, and amaranth. The project also includes a community garden with up to 35 species of African vegetables.
Grennes explains that sharing seeds with home gardeners is empowering community members to grow their own African vegetables and greens. This is important because these foods are, Grennes says, “so hard to find … if it’s grown in Africa, and it needs to get to the United States, that’s a long time, and these leafy greens are usually prepped and consumed or at least prepared within 24 hours of their harvest … So that’s a very long distance [for shipping] and a really short time.”
In turn, community involvement has been key to the project’s success. “On the research side, we were not really familiar with these crops and how to grow them, and [community members from Africa] helped us with maintenance in the field,” Pammit says. “They provide support, as well as the knowledge that they have on these crops.”
“When we’re making selections,” Grennes adds, “we try to have a taste test, and we can see: Of the people who are really familiar with these vegetables, what is their favorite, what is their least favorite? What are they looking for — do they want spice, do they want bitterness?”
Growing locally creates connections and learning opportunities for people from different cultures, not just those from an African background. For example, Pammit mentioned that Minnesotans from Asian cultures have also shown interest in the project, since some of the same vegetables are valued in Asian cuisines.
“People are all very eager to learn when they come to the garden, and it’s very fun,” Grennes says. “We can take them on walking and eating tours. It’s a really fun way to engage with crops they may not be familiar with.”
What You Can Do
New Roots Queens offers information on growing and cooking with ethnic vegetables on the garden’s website. The University of Minnesota Community Plant Breeding Team offers growing guides for their four focus species and other ethnic vegetables.
