seeds — grains, legumes, nuts — have special
properties, and are described separately in
chapter 9.
The Original Food
The idea that plants are our original and
therefore only proper food has deep
cultural roots. In the Golden Age described
by Greek and Roman mythology, the earth
gave of itself freely, without cultivation,
and humans ate only nuts and fruit. And in
Genesis, Adam and Eve spend their brief
innocence as gardeners:And the Lord God planted a garden
eastward in Eden; and there he put the man
whom he had formed. And out of the
ground made the Lord God to grow every
tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good
for food...And the Lord God took the man,
and put him into the Garden of Eden to
dress it and to keep it.