On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 240

TheScarcityofMeatinAgricultural
SocietiesAroundthetimethatourancestors
domesticatedanimals,theyalsobeganto
cultivateanumberofgrasses,plantsthatgrow
inextensivestandsandproducelargenumbers
ofnutritiousseeds.Thiswasthebeginningof
agriculture.Withthearrivalofdomesticated
barleyandwheat,riceandmaize,nomadic
peoplessettleddowntofarmthelandand
producefood,populationsboomed—and
mostpeopleateverylittlemeat.Graincrops
aresimplyafarmoreefficientformof
nourishmentthananimalsgrazingonthesame
land,someatbecamerelativelyexpensive,a
luxuryreservedfortherulers.Fromthe
prehistoricinventionofagriculturetothe
IndustrialRevolution,thegreatmajorityof
peopleontheplanetlivedoncerealgruelsand
breads.BeginningwithEuropeandthe
Americasinthe19thcentury,
industrializationhasgenerallymademeatless
expensiveandmorewidelyavailablethanks


tothedevelopmentofmanagedpasturesand
formulatedfeeds,theintensivebreedingof
animalsforefficientmeatproduction,and
improvedtransportationfromfarmstocities.
Butinlessdevelopedpartsoftheworld,meat
isstillaluxuryreservedforthewealthyfew.
FoodWords:Meat

The English wordmeat has not always
meant animal flesh, and its evolution
indicates a shift in the eating habits of
English-speaking people. In theOxford
EnglishDictionary’sfirstcitationformeat,
from the year 900, the word meant solid
food in general, in contrast to drink. A
vestige of this sense survives today in the
habit of referring to the meat of nuts. It
wasn’t until 1300 thatmeat was used for
the flesh of animals, and not until even
later that this definition displaced the
earlier one as animal flesh became
preeminent in the English diet, in