Prehistoric humans did not feed themselves simply through gathering. Neither did they exclusively hunt woolly mammoths, either – even if, over time, hunting did lead them to eat greater quantities of meat.
In the period 3600 to 3300 BCE, they were already eating cereals.
A study published early last month in the journal “Nature Communications” revealed that British and Norwegian researchers had detected consumption of cereals in the Neolithic era. They even found evidence about how grains were cooked, with wheat and barley appearing to be prepared in dedicated containers.
The cereals may have been boiled and eaten like soups that could be enhanced with meat or in a form similar to porridge.
Meanwhile, in Egypt, during the time of the Pharaohs, both of these grains formed part of the basic diet of the population, who took advantage of the Nile delta and valley to maintain their crops when the river soaked the surrounding area.
Among the Mayan and other Central American peoples in pre-Columbian times, corn was a sacred plant.
In Europe throughout the Middle Ages, cereals were an indispensable part of a staple food – bread: a mainstay on the table of farmers and the poorest members of the population, as well as on the tables in noble households, in different varieties and forms.
And a form of bread takes on a central element in a key ritual in Catholic religion with the sacrament of Communion. It also plays a symbolic role in the Jewish religion’s Shabbat practices.
French agricultural engineer Eric Birlouez recounts in his book “Petite et grande histoire des céréales et légumes secs” (“Stories large and small of grains and pulses”) how “the first instances of agriculture in the world always originated with the domestication of a few wild cereals and legumes”.
“This ‘innovation’ radically transformed the diet and lifestyle of the first farmers,” he writes. “It would give rise to cities, civilisations, social differentiation, and writing.”
The word “cereal” is in fact derived from the name Ceres, the goddess of agriculture and harvest in Roman mythology.
World record in cereal production
The latest droughts that have weakened crops in France and in a large part of Europe serve as a reminder of how essential wheat, barley and other grains have always been to humans’ diets, either by being transformed into foods that arrive directly on tables, or used to feed the livestock that is subsequently eaten.
With the rise in bread prices, often seen as an economic index of daily life, it’s easy to see to what extent grains and cereals structure daily life. At the very beginning of the year, just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drew the world’s attention to just how much Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s country is the breadbasket of Europe, the International Grains Council indicated that the world was consuming more grain than ever.
For the 2021/2022 period, world production has been estimated at 2.291 billion metric tonnes, an absolute record “despite difficult agricultural weather in some parts of the world”.
Grains are such a basic part of people’s daily diets that it’s easy to forget about them, or at least relegate them to playing a background role. Chefs, however, are demonstrating just how diverse and interesting grain-based dishes can be.
Recent cookbooks such as Joshua McFadden’s “Grains for Every Season: Rethinking our Way with Grains” brings together dishes both savoury and sweet featuring everything from farro to buckwheat and corn; while Abra Berens’ “Grist: A Practical Guide to Cooking Grains, Beans, Seeds and Legumes” takes a nearly encyclopaedic approach to the subject.
And as gluten-free diets become increasingly common, it’s important to remember that grains are not inevitably synonymous with gluten.
While different cultures have different grain staples, ancestral varieties such as millet, quinoa, buckwheat are being brought back to the forefront in European cuisine. The grain sections of food stores should continue to expand as other cereals are exported from various parts of the world to arrive on shelves.
One example of a grain that is newly making waves in Europe is fonio, which West African countries have been growing for thousands of years. The cultivation of this seed, with a presentation somewhere between bulgur and quinoa, requires very little water – making it a candidate for being a food of the future.
Sorghum is also gaining in popularity, thanks to its very heat-resistant plant. And then there’s teff.
Last March, Nasa released a video that showed very concretely how global warming could change cereal crops in the world in 2100. Taking into account long-term climate forecasts and projected greenhouse-gas emissions, it suggests that corn would be the hardest hit with a potential 24% drop in world production, while wheat production would increase by 17% by the end of the century.
And while corn crops are weakened by high temperatures, wheat crops benefit from higher concentrations of carbon dioxide, which could have a beneficial effect on photosynthesis.
Wheat cultivation is expected to increase in England, Russia and Eastern Europe, as well as in Turkey, Syria and Iran, while it will decrease in India, the world’s second-largest producer.
In essence, the world of grains tomorrow will likely look significantly different than it does today.