The Pink Pearl of the Côte d’Azur: The Story of Rose Onion of Menton
Skeptical about what role a common vegetable plays in the fight against the climate and nature crisis? We were too — until we met these French farmers saving the future of food, one seed at a time.
For many travelers, the celebrated French Riviera evokes images of luxury and leisure: glittering superyachts docked in Monaco, film stars frolicking in Cannes, and moneyed tourists forking over hundreds of dollars for cushy lounge chairs on the beaches of St. Tropez. Since it’s likely that just a sip of an Aperol Spritz would have blown our daily budget, The Green Journey had no designs on spending time on the Côte d’Azur.
But when you travel using public transport, there’s no traveling from point A to C without passing through point B. So as we made our way towards the starting point of our 2000-km bike trip from Venice to Athens, we found ourselves crammed into a regional train that took us along the celebrated coastline.
It was an Instagram vs. Reality moment came to life as we stood sweaty shoulder to sweaty shoulder with hundreds of beachgoers. On a whim, we disembarked for a breath of fresh air in Menton — and that’s where the story of an unexpected encounter with local climate and biodiversity heroes starts.
Monoculture in Menton
One of the last French Riviera towns before the Italian border, Menton’s colorful mansions have long been a draw for tourists — but the temperate climate has long supported a thriving agricultural industry as well.
At the turn of the 20th century, Menton was one of the world’s largest producers of lemons — and even though this title is long-lost, the town still strongly identifies with yellow citrus. As you promenade along the cobblestone lanes, lemon paraphernalia hits you hard: lemon cookies, lemon gelato, lemon tea towels, lemon snowglobes, lemon granita, limoncello — the list goes on. There’s even a showstopping annual Fête du Citron where giant sculptures made of lemons parade through the streets.
But beneath the intoxicating smells and tastes of lemons lies a starkly challenging reality — like many modern agricultural regions, Menton has trended towards monoculture, which could worsen regional vulnerability to the effects of climate change.
Monoculture (growing a single crop rather than many crops together in a field, or employing regenerative techniques like crop rotation) poses several climate change risks: reduced resilience to climate extremes, soil degradation, and even elevated methane emissions. For a city like Menton, situated in the extremely vulnerable South of France, transitioning towards more sustainable forms of polyculture isn’t just born of a desire to have a more colorful, locally grown plate — it’s a climate imperative.
They saved the last seeds
As monoculture and an influx of tourism has steadily replaced the subsistence agriculture that the paysans (peasant farmers) of Menton had practiced for centuries, native species started disappearing, one by one. With the ability to buy semences industrielles (industrial seeds) at cheaper prices and with favorable gene maps, semences paysannes (peasant seeds) rapidly fell out of fashion.
One of these native seeds that nearly went extinct was L'Oignon Rose du Menton (The Pink Onion of Menton), a vibrant and delicious medium-size heritage onion varietal. The onion sports a colorful hue, similar to that of a red onion, but has a sweet and mild taste that forms the basis of a delicious variety of dishes.
As the legend goes, the Pink Onion of Menton was reduced to a single cultivator. This farmer had great designs to bring the onion back to life. Unfortunately, before he could make his dream a reality, he passed away, further threatening the existence of this seed.
But his friends decided to pursue his dream, in honor of his memory. A dedicated group of farmers shared the last envelope of pink seeds, and each went back to their plot to grow the crop – in gardens, on farms, wherever it could be propagated. Over time, more and more people started planting the Pink Onion of Menton, and it grew big enough to be the ‘guest of honor’ at the annual festival we stumbled upon!
Today, the pink onion has a small local supply chain consisting of 15+ farmers growing the heirloom crop, which is slowly making a greater appearance on plates throughout the region! A key mark of success: at the first annual festival, there were not enough pink onions to sell, but in 2023, guests could dine on the finest pink onion tarts AND take some of the crop home with them!
Seeds for food sovereignty
Still not convinced about the power of the Pink Onion? Here’s another exciting reason to celebrate this delicious climate solution — it holds the key to creating a future where food sovereignty comes before corporate profits. How? Through the independent reproduction of seeds!
Throughout the 20th century, the deployment of technologies like chemical fertilizer, controlled irrigation, pesticides and genetic modification created an explosion of agricultural productivity known as The Green Revolution, which created the industrial farming complex we know today. While it’s true that the adoption of these new practices increased global crop yields and grew enough food to support a growing global population into modernity, The Green Revolution is responsible for many of the destructive realities of today’s agro-industrial complex, where food production accounts for one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
We won’t get into all of the problematic climate and nature implications of the current global food system today as it would definitely require an article that exceeds Substack’s permitted word count (but please check out this chapter on food security from the IPCC’s Special Report on Climate Change and Land if the spirit moves you) – but here’s a little a deep dive on the role of seed companies alone.
Over the last half-century, the global seed market has transformed from a competitive, diversified market to a consolidated oligopoly, where a few massive players control the game. History shows us that fewer seed sellers lead to decreased choice and higher prices which can put heritage and regenerative farmers straight out of business. What’s more – there has been a dramatic decline in cultivated biodiversity (biodiversity such as genetic variation and species variety in agriculture) , with some estimates implying the world has lost more than 75% of cultivated biodiversity in the last 100 years.
This is where the pink onion comes in. If the biennial seed is left to grow for two years, and a flower is allowed to bloom, you have up to 4,000 seeds coming from a single flower that can be re-planted and shared with your neighbors, no seed company required! This is a veritable nightmare for Bayer & Co., who rely on accumulated market power and consumer dependence for both their seed and fertilizer products to keep sales high.
Increased advocacy for and focus on local, heritage crops like the pink onion builds buffers of cultivated biodiversity into our food system and reduces dependence on commercial agriculture. While it’s not the case that the pink onion of Menton will replace your typical grocery-store variety anytime soon, by celebrating and supporting the efforts of climate heroes like those working for the Maison des Semences Paysannes Maralpines (House of Peasant Seeds for the Mar-Alpines Region), we can do our part as consumers to support more sustainable, regenerative forms of agriculture within our communities and beyond!
I want a taste of the climate action
We left Menton with full bellies, full hearts, and our own packet of pink onion seeds to share with friends and family!
We gifted our packet of seeds to Polo’s Italian grandparents, who live near Venice, and his Mom & Dad, who live in Western France! We can’t wait to return someday to hopefully see that the delicious pink onion has spread even further!
The annual Pink Onion festival won’t make a re-appearance until Summer 2024, but if you can’t wait to get a taste of cultivated biodiversity for yourself, here’s a few ways to get involved!
Find Slow Food Near You: The global Slow Food Movement continues to gain momentum as chefs, citizens and farmers alike make a push for closer ties between land and plate. There are many ways to get involved — you can connect with interested activists in your area, join a specific project, or network with
Uplevel your Nature Skills: We love the work being done by Earthed, a nature skills platform that offers instructional courses on everything from urban gardening to community-supported agriculture to food systems politics.
Share the story: If you liked this story, or learned something from it, please share it with your network so that the story of the Pink Onion of the Menton meets with more climate warriors (and interested gourmands!)
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