Vanilla

This presentation, based on Jennings’ book Vanilla, the History of an Extraordinary Bean, is the story of how the only edible orchid went global. Initially a rarefied luxury that was seized by pirates, it was the object of much attention in the early 19th century, when scientists started a race to crack the secret of its artificial pollination. Before that, Mexico had held a near monopoly over vanilla. The plant was grown by indigenous people in several regions. But as long as vanilla output had to rely on natural pollinators, meliponines bees, the pod could only be produced in Central America. All of that changed in the 1830s and 1840s. An enslaved twelve-year-old named Edmond should be credited with the main method of manual reproduction still used today the world over. In 1841, on remote Bourbon Island in the Indian Ocean (later renamed Réunion Island), Edmond completely transformed the vanilla sector. Like many brilliant inventions, his seems disarmingly simple after the fact. He discovered a straight-forward and efficient way of pollinating the vanilla orchid with a toothpick or a needle. Even more astonishing is the fact that Edmond was given credit for his method.This presentation features interwoven narrative threads: the race to achieve manual pollination, the vanilla mania and international competition that followed Edmond’s breakthrough, the rise of synthetic alternatives to this costly commodity and the vanilla lobby’s ensuing counterattack. The result is at once a commodity chain, culinary and cultural history wrapped in one.

About Eric Jennings

Eric Jennings is a Professor in the Department of History at the University of Toronto. He is a leading authority in the fields of modern French colonial history and the study of France and the Francophonie. Dr. Jennings has been a recipient of a Simon Guggenheim fellowship in 2014, and a winner of the Gilbert Chinard, Alf Heggoy, Prix des Ambassadeurs, Prix Fetkann, and Jean-François Coste book prizes. He was made a chevalier in the ordre des palmes académiques in 2010 and became a fellow in the Royal Society of Canada in 2019.