Event

The Romance of Plants and Your Food

Sex and food are intimately intertwined, and this relationship is most evident among the plants that sustain us. Join Norm Ellstrand—plant geneticist, distinguished professor, and author of “Sex on the Kitchen Table: The Romance of Plants and Your Food”—for a discussion about the sexy side of GMOs.
Lectures
Gardens

Norm Ellstrand is a distinguished professor at the University of California, Riverside, where he recently created the California Agriculture and Food Enterprise, UCR’s research umbrella whose mission is to address complex issues in broad-sense agriculture, requiring interdisciplinary teams for the betterment of the planet and its people.

Day of Event

  • General admission is not included for this event. If you would like to visit the gardens and galleries before the talk, general admission is required.
  • Presentation lasts approximately 45-60 minutes, followed by a book signing.
  • No plant sale will follow this talk.
A book cover with a bed of kale and tomatoes as pillows; the text reads “Sex on the Kitchen Table: The Romance of Plants and Your Food.”

Sex on the Kitchen Table: The Romance of Plants and Your Food by Norman C. Ellstrand. | Chicago University Press.

A smiling person with short white hair, wearing a blue sweater.

Norman Ellstrand. Photo by Kris Lovekin.

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A book cover with a bed of kale and tomatoes as pillows; the text reads “Sex on the Kitchen Table: The Romance of Plants and Your Food.”
A smiling person with short white hair, wearing a blue sweater.

About the Speaker

Norm Ellstrand’s fascination with plant genetics led to a storied academic career and more than 200 publications, including two books: Dangerous Liaisons: When Cultivated Plants Mate with Their Wild Relatives and Sex on the Kitchen Table: The Romance of Plants and Your Food. Ellstrand has presented his research to audiences ranging from U.S. congressional staff to Cuban biotechnologists, and his honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship as well as the Botanical Society of America’s 2008 Merit Award.

About the Book

In Sex on the Kitchen Table, Ellstrand takes us on a vegetable-laced tour of this entire sexual adventure. Starting with the love apple (otherwise known as the tomato) as a platform for understanding the kaleidoscopic ways that plants can engage in sex, successive chapters explore the sex lives of a range of food crops, including bananas, avocados, and beets, finally ending with genetically engineered squash—a controversial, virus-resistant vegetable created by a process that involves the most ancient form of sex. Peppered throughout are original illustrations and delicious recipes, from sweet and savory tomato pudding to banana puffed pancakes, avocado toast (of course), and both transgenic and non-GMO tacos. Source: Publisher, University of Chicago Press