When you hear “extinction,” you probably think first of the charismatic megafauna (polar bears, tigers, pandas, orangutans, dolphins) that swell our hearts to care about this threat. And we should be paying attention.

The World Wide Fund For Nature (formerly World Wildlife Fund) says the 2024 Living Planet Index reveals the scale of the nature loss crisis. Between 1970 and 2020, the average size of wildlife populations plummeted by 73% on average. This is based on almost 35,000 population trends across 5,495 species of amphibians, birds, fish, mammals and reptiles. Regionally, the worst losses happened in Latin America and the Caribbean (95%). Freshwater species experienced the greatest decline – a shocking 85%.

And you might have thought about threats to biodiversity in the Amazon rainforest, the earth’s “lungs,” because the cure to Parkinson’s, ALS, prostate cancer – you name it – could be waiting within plants threatened with extinction because people want to eat more beef.

You might care about biodiversity for these practical and emotional reasons, as well as ethical and theological reasons. How will humanity sing Psalm 148 in another 100 years as we speed up extinction?

Mountains and all hills,
    fruit trees and all cedars!
Wild animals and all cattle,
    creeping things and flying birds!
Kings of the earth and all peoples,
    princes and all rulers of the earth!
Young men and women alike,
    old and young together!
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
    for God’s name alone is exalted;
God’s glory is above earth and heaven. (Psalm 148:9-13)

Did you ever wonder if tastes could go extinct? The Ark of Taste in an effort of cataloging treasured foods that are “produced in limited quantities, these foods will not be around in another generation or two without immediate action. Risk factors may be biological, commercial, or cultural.”

It’s unthinkable, for example, that tomatoes would ever go extinct. But Aunt Lou’s Underground Railroad Tomato could. Read about this plant, loved enough by an enslaved man that he brought seeds with him on his dangerous journey to freedom, passing some to a White woman named Aunt Lou in Ripley, Ohio.

You’ll find chickens, ducks, sheep, pigs, honey, cheese and bread along with plants in the Ark of Taste, and you can nominate tastes from your own community. The food must be “good” (prized by those eat it), “clean” (its production should not harm its environment) and “fair” (available to anyone to cultivate).

You’ll also find Scio Kolace, a Czech sweet bun made of yeast dough with a filling, adapted by Czech settlers who moved west through the United States. The kolaces were rolled and pinched and baked and devoured by generation after generation, with countless adaptations. Linda Ziedrich, resident of Scio, Ore., nominated this pastry to the Ark of Taste and shares her recipe and its history on her blog.

The time-tested tastes, and the fusions of cultures and regions that update tastes, are gifts from God. Our recipes are records of how we interact with the foods and flavors around us. Our recipes tell stories of how we feed one another. The diversity in creation is celebrated throughout scripture: the creation stories, the ark that protected creations from extinction, the Psalms that sing the beauty of diversity, and Revelation’s visions of diversity of all creatures in the reconciled garden.

Linda’s Kolace (shared with permission)

Remember, there is no single recipe for kolace; cooks have always improvised a bit. Possible additions include grated lemon peel and mace or nutmeg in the dough, and a sugar glaze, powdered sugar, or streusel on top of the buns.

Ingredients (makes about 40 kolace)

• ¼ cup lukewarm water
• 4 teaspoons dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon plus ½ cup sugar
• 2 cups lukewarm whole milk
• 14 tablespoons (1 ¾ sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• About 8 cups all-purpose flour (about 2 ½ pounds)
• About 1 cup jam (preferably prune or apricot, without much added sugar) or poppy-seed filling
• Cinnamon sugar

Instructions

Pour the water into a large bowl, and sprinkle the yeast over. Stir in 1 teaspoon sugar, and wait a minute or more for the mixture to bubble.

Add the milk, the remaining sugar, all but 2 tablespoons of the melted butter, the eggs, the salt, and the vanilla. Stir in enough flour to make a ball that pulls away from the side of the bowl. Turn the dough out onto a floured board, and knead the dough for several minutes, working in more flour as necessary, until the dough is smooth and only slightly sticky.

Place the dough in a greased bowl. Cover the bowl, and set it in a warm place until the dough has nearly doubled in bulk and fails to spring back when poked with a finger.

Punch down the dough, and form it into two long ropes. Cut each rope into 20 equal pieces, and roll them into balls. Place the balls on greased baking pans to rise.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

When the kolace have nearly doubled in bulk, brush them with the remaining butter (you may need to reheat it first). Hollow out the center of each kolace with your fingers, leaving a border of no more than ½ inch. Fill each center with about 2 teaspoons poppy-seed filling or jam, and sprinkle the kolace with cinnamon sugar. Put the pans into the oven, and immediately reduce the temperature to 375 degrees F. Bake the kolace for about 18 minutes, rotating the pans about halfway through the cooking, until they are lightly browned.

Poppy Seed Filling for Kolace (also shared with permission)   

Hand-cranked metal grinders for poppy seeds are widely available in Europe but harder to find in the United States. Some people manage with an electric coffee grinder or a mortar and pestle. I’ve had best results by soaking the seeds overnight and then grinding them in a powerful blender.

• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 cup poppy seeds
• ¾ cup milk
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons honey
• ½ teaspoon ground allspice
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract

Pour the boiling water over the poppy seeds, and let them sit overnight.

In the morning, pour off the water through a fine-mesh strainer. Grind the poppy seeds in a blender with the milk and sugar. Transfer the mixture to a small saucepan, and cook the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, until it is thick, a few minutes. Stir in the honey, spices, and vanilla, and remove the pan from the heat.