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Three

The Entwined History of Humans and Cereal Grains

(briefly told)

Iam going to start this chapter with something I said in the last chapter (I feel it’s that important): People and society as we know it today would not exist without the evolving cultivation of grains. Regardless of where you stand on the subject of consumption of cereal grains, this point cannot be ignored: Homo sapiens and grains co-evolved, and human life on this planet would not be as it is without this interaction.

If you will permit me a small rant: It drives me crazy as we endure an era where the fundamental value of cereal grains is minimized and dismissed in our diets. It has become just too easy to blame the carbs in grains for our increasing waistlines while disregarding the issues of processed foods. These times find us at odds with the vitally important concept of eating nutrient-dense foods, and instead offer fast, less nutritious alternatives at the expense of our health. We seem to have a serious disconnect between nutrition and long-term wellness. This hasn’t happened overnight. It has followed closely on the increased industrialization and mass marketing of food production – along with our increased separation from the sources of our food. I suppose blaming bread and our genes is the easiest approach, but that’s hardly the whole picture.

SO, WHAT IS THE FUNDAMENTAL VALUE OF CEREAL GRAINS”? At the early stages of human evolution, grains were there to provide much-needed caloric intake for our ancient ancestors. Cereals are a rich source of vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates, fats and oil. Grains were cultivated not only as food for people, but to provide energy for grazing animals and to improve soil health. Yet, in this era where people are so far removed from where their food is grown, grains have been turned into an enemy rather than a resource for healthy living.

It is generally believed that people first began eating grains at least as far back as 75,000 years ago in the Middle East. These grains, including einkorn and emmer wheat, were ancestors of today’s Triticum species. Both einkorn and emmer grew wild near the banks of rivers, where people harvested the grasses that grew naturally near their communities long before “farming” techniques were established. Scientists believe they have discovered the world’s oldest-known grain silos at an Early Neolithic village called Dhra’, in modern Jordan. These silos, dating back 11,000 years, contained remnants of barley and early types of wheat. Another site, in Israel, revealed a trove of 23,000-year-old grains.

Over time, grains and their cultivation were becoming essential to the rise of civilization in other places around the world: rice in China, more than 8,000 years ago; sorghum in Africa, about 7,000 years ago; and in Mesoamerica, an ancestor of corn was domesticated about 6,000 years ago.

Ancient people ate grains in much the same way we do today. Wheat grains were made into flour and used for bread baking. Rice was steamed and eaten hot or cold. Oats were mashed with water or milk to make oatmeal. And perhaps most importantly, our ancient ancestors created beer by fermenting barley. Beer is the oldest manufactured beverage in the world and had very low alcohol content in its original creation. It too was an important source of carbohydrates and nutrients in ancient diets.

Did you know… there are records of the workers who built Egypt’s pyramids at Giza being paid in beer and bread? An ancient example of grain being used by early civilizations as a form of currency.

The historical impact of grains in global agriculture is profound. Because grains are small, hard and dry, they can be stored, measured and transported easily, especially compared to other food crops like fresh fruits, roots and tubers. The development of cereal grains allowed excess food to be produced and stored, which ultimately led to the creation of the first permanent settlements and, in time, societal structuring.

Today, those of us living in the industrialized world take for granted that grains are grown, stored and transported across the globe. We are accustomed to seeing silos and giant combines responsible for efficiently harvesting crops. The invention of the combine created the single most important piece of agricultural equipment.

THE AMAZING COMBINE

The combine is truly a remarkable machine. It does three jobs in the harvesting of grain: cutting it, threshing it, and winnowing the seed from the chaff.

Cutting removes the grain from the stalk of grass. When doing this by hand in your home garden, it is just the removal of the seed head from the dried stem.

Threshing loosens the edible grain from its casing, called the chaff. The chaff is inedible and humans and animals cannot digest it. This step is significantly more complex for a home gardener without proper equipment, though there are some creative solutions for this step that involve your favorite child garden helpers! My young helpers have been threshing heroes.

Winnowing, the final step, is the removal of the grain from the chaff.

Combine harvesters make this process time-and cost-effective. It is my dream that one day there will be a combine for small-batch growers like me – and maybe you! (See page 153 for how we thresh and winnow at home).

HARVESTING ON A SMALL SCALE: The sight of those giant combines may be common in developed, wealthier countries, but the standard for global grain production isn’t large fields tended by expensive machinery and planted with modern, genetically improved varieties. In the developing world today, very few farmers have the resources that we are so accustomed to seeing in North America. Farmers in the developing world typically cultivate just a few acres and provide grain for their local community. These farmers usually thresh and winnow with separate machines after harvesting the field. In many places, harvesting is still done with hand tools such as the sickle, a long, curved blade used for cutting many stalks of grain at once. These are the methods that home grain growers can look to as resources.

QUESTIONS ARISE: And this is why writing this book matters. For most of my life I took for granted the benefits of large-scale commercial agriculture, with its high efficiency and low cost. A modern miracle, no doubt, but it may be bringing unintended consequences. As scientists develop improved crops, we see agricultural practices evolve – the most controversial practice being the application of persistent herbicides and systemic pesticides (see Chapter Four).

Could some agricultural practices be negatively affecting health? It’s a question that needs to be raised and settled. In the years to come, I hope and expect that will happen, and more information will be discovered regarding the rise of gluten intolerances and serious diseases like celiac. I do not want to speculate without proper data about conventional agricultural practices, and I encourage you to not rush to judgment on this topic either. But be mindful of what you eat and seek to learn about how it was grown. For me, my simple solution is to grow some of my own grains and support local farmers who cultivate a diverse range of crops, using organic methods whenever possible.

The act of gardening is meaningful. By growing the plants that you love to eat you impact more than just your own diet. You can influence your neighbors and create habitat for local insects and wildlife. The roots of your plants will help clean storm water. And every single time you eat something that you grew, you help reduce food miles. Gardening is a hobby that provides untold environmental benefits and solutions. I hope you will always remember that you are doing your part to make the world a better place, one plant at a time! ■