The Literature Network - Amiens is getting back to its roots Only the city of Jules Verne would have the imagination necessary to turn its vegetables into a tourist attraction, says John Graham-Hart

Amiens is getting back to its roots Only the city of Jules Verne would have the imagination necessary to turn its vegetables into a tourist attraction, says John Graham-Hart

Content courtesy of

From: The Sunday Telegraph London
Date: 20080420
Author:John Graham-Hart

Rene Nowak pulls a generous handful of radishes from the soil, knocks off the earth and holds them up for inspection. They glow like rubies in the early sun. "Look at the colour," he says. "You can see the difference even before you taste."

Rene is one of the few remaining hortillons of Amiens, carrying on a market gardening tradition that goes back thousands of years. The Hortillonnages, in the heart of the city, are former marshes drained by the Romans to cultivate produce to feed their army. Today they extend over 740 acres and comprise some 450 islands encircled and nourished by the ...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Amiens is getting back to its roots Only the city of Jules Verne would have the imagination necessary to turn its vegetables into a tourist attraction, says John Graham-Hart

Other Articles on Jules Verne