On Food and Cooking

Euphrates rivers, and in the Jordan River
valley. The first plants to be brought under
human selection there were einkorn and
emmer wheat, barley, lentil, pea, bitter vetch,
and chickpea: a mixture of seed-bearing
cereals and legumes. Gradually the nomadic
life of the hunter-gatherer gave way to
growing settlements alongside the large
grainfields that fed them. The need arose for
planning the sowing and the distribution of
the harvests, for anticipating seasonal changes
before they occurred, for organizing the work,
and for keeping records. Some of the earliest
known writing and arithmetical systems,
dating from at least 5,000 years ago, are
devoted to the accounting of grain and
livestock. So the culture of the fields
encouraged the culture of the mind. At the
same time it brought problems, among them a
drastic simplification of the hunter-gatherer’s
varied diet and consequent damage to human
health, and the development of a social