On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 862

Euphratesrivers,andintheJordanRiver
valley.Thefirstplantstobebroughtunder
humanselectiontherewereeinkornand
emmerwheat,barley,lentil,pea,bittervetch,
andchickpea:amixtureofseed-bearing
cerealsandlegumes.Graduallythenomadic
lifeofthehunter-gatherergavewayto
growingsettlementsalongsidethelarge
grainfieldsthatfedthem.Theneedarosefor
planningthesowingandthedistributionof
theharvests,foranticipatingseasonalchanges
beforetheyoccurred,fororganizingthework,
andforkeepingrecords.Someoftheearliest
knownwritingandarithmeticalsystems,
datingfromatleast5,000yearsago,are
devotedtotheaccountingofgrainand
livestock.Sothecultureofthefields
encouragedthecultureofthemind.Atthe
sametimeitbroughtproblems,amongthema
drasticsimplificationofthehunter-gatherer’s
varieddietandconsequentdamagetohuman
health,andthedevelopmentofasocial


hierarchyinwhichafewbenefitfromthe
laborofmany.
SeedsofThought
Thedevelopmentofagriculturehadadeep
influenceonhumanfeelingandthought,on
mythologyandreligionandscience,thatis
hard to capture in a few quotations. The

religious historian Mircea Eliade
summarizeditthisway:
Weareusedtothinkingthatthediscovery
ofagriculturemadearadicalchangeinthe
courseofhumanhistorybyensuring
adequatenourishmentandthusallowinga
tremendousincreaseinthepopulation.But
thediscoveryofagriculturehaddecisive
resultsforaquitedifferentreason….
Agriculturetaughtmanthefundamental
onenessoforganiclife;andfromthat
revelationsprangthesimpleranalogies
betweenwomenandfield,betweenthe
sexualactandsowing,aswellasthemost