> - finally we come to the bread vs rice - once rice leaves a farm, it is storable and needs no further professional processing - you just cook it. But wheat ne

> - finally we come to the bread vs rice - once rice leaves a farm, it is storable and needs no further professional processing - you just cook it. But wheat needs grinding and usually baking was a specialty procession. This actually argues a bit against the collectivism thread I think - it it could go either way. But to my mind it's a weak force in culture setting. Efficient milling isn't just a specialized skill. It's also a bunch of specialized equipment and often required specialized construction and siting. Controlling the local mill meant controlling the local economy and food supply. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a bunch of Europeans leveraged this into political power and multigenerational wealth.