Living in the COVID-19 World ... and Beyond #52: Vanilla

I have always loved vanilla.

When I was a child, vanilla was my favorite flavor of ice cream.  I was an outlier amongst my friends – chocolate was their favorite.   I even got teased about it.  But I stuck with my own preference, and that was definitely vanilla.    And I would be remiss if I did not mention that one of my most beloved cookies as a young person was, wait for it, Nilla Wafers.

As an adult, I tend to have vanilla yogurt and vanilla almond milk (unsweetened of course).  My taste preference for vanilla has stayed with me through many other dietary changes.

I never really bothered to understand where vanilla came from.  I accepted that it was from a bean because some ice cream companies advertised their vanilla flavor as vanilla bean.     But where did those beans come from; I had no idea until very recently.

A recent informal survey of some friends revealed that they did not know where vanilla came from either.

So, in case you are one of the many who does not know the source of vanilla, I will now tell you what I have learned.

Vanilla beans come from tropical vine orchids.  Yes, orchids.  There is a complicated and lengthy (multiple year) process for cultivating and processing the vanilla beans.      It is quite fascinating, but I will not go into the details here.

Over 80% of all vanilla is grown in Madagascar.   Somehow, I knew that Madagascar was associated with vanilla, but I did not know how dominant Madagascar’s role is in the growth and harvesting of vanilla.   It turns out that the ideal climate for vanilla cultivation includes temperatures ranging between 77°F and 95°F throughout the year. Additionally, a stable annual rainfall of approximately 60 to 100 inches is necessary to support healthy growth of the orchids.  Therefore, Madagascar.

By this point, you might be wondering: why is Mike going on and on about vanilla?   Nice to know that vanilla is his favorite flavor, and always has been, but doesn’t he have more important things to write about?

 Did you figure it out yet?  If you guessed climate crisis, you are right.

These orchids, as explained, must be grown in tropical conditions, like Madagascar.   In 2017, a cyclone hit Madagascar and wiped out 30% of the vanilla crop which caused prices for vanilla and thence all the foods that we enjoy that use vanilla to skyrocket.  This was not just one isolated event.   As “Zero Hour Climate” has reported, “Climate change is having a profound impact on the weather patterns that vanilla orchids rely on for successful cultivation. Changes in temperature, rainfall, and humidity levels are disrupting the delicate balance required for vanilla bean production. These shifts in weather patterns have serious consequences for both the quantity and quality of vanilla beans.”

So maybe you have been concerned about climate change for all sorts of reasons.  And now I have added another one.  We are at risk of losing one of our most favorite scents and flavors.   There are already some adaptation strategies being developed and implemented to try to mitigate the dangers of the climate crisis on vanilla-producing orchids.   Clearly, the most important thing that all of us can do is advocate for taking steps to support achieving the Paris goals of 2015 to limit global warming.

However, I’m afraid that in some few years, I will no longer being able to savor the taste of vanilla due to the climate crisis.  That would definitely be a loss for me.

What are you afraid of losing because of the climate crisis?