Heather, in Orchid Fever, do you remember in Turkey a popular ice cream made from a particular species of orchid roots only found in the mountains somewhere in Turkey? I heard that that particular species of orchid is now facing extinction if the locals don't stop harvesting them from the wild. Those plants are not even cultivated because they grow very slow. What will do when they are gone forever? The locals are outraged because those plants may soon become protected.
Also, in South America, the local people eat Phrag ecuadorense to relieve stomach pains or help digestion or something like that.
And, of course the most famous is vanilla.
