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I don't think that's true -- we didn't choose grain because "we like it so much". Grain is easy to store and has a long shelf life, which means it can last lon

by beambot 13y ago

I don't think that's true -- we didn't choose grain because "we like it so much". Grain is easy to store and has a long shelf life, which means it can last long enough to get you through the long non-growing seasons. When you scale up production, you need somewhere to put it... hence silos. By way of another analogy: refrigeration is the motivating force behind much of the food we consume now. In my grandmother's day, all food post-harvest was either dried (grains and meats), canned, or pickled.

thaumasiotes 13y ago
This is fair. We chose grain because we hated starving to death in the winter. But we like grain now! History and evolution are on its side at this point. Refrigeration enables us to eat many things that people two generations ago literally couldn't, but I note that cereals are still a very large portion of what we, in all our riches, choose to eat. My family eats a lot of bread, without bothering to refrigerate it. Some things that we refrigerate now, but historically didn't have to, are eggs and milk. Do you know how those were treated in your grandmother's day? The image I have from history is that milk was produced and consumed in large quantities, and "refrigerated" (iceboxed) then as now. But clearly (?), what was good enough for milk was too good for... lettuce? ;) Just as a fun side observation, there are some other obvious concerns, if you're starting from a hunter-gatherer state: jerky keeps significantly better than grain does, and is packed full of calories, and is ultra-low-tech, but grain production can be scaled up in a way that would be extremely difficult for jerky. So we built granaries and tolerated massive losses to rats essentially because even after the losses we could produce more grain than "other food".
- beambot 13y ago
  Eggs and Milk came right from the chickens and cows. Thankfully, I was spared this lifestyle (thanks mom!). Some of the earliest practical refrigeration on the farm (eg. the Icy Ball [1]) is from the early-late 1920s. That was during my grandmother's lifetime. If you think about it, the change in lifestyles she's witnessed in ~100 years is pretty bloody impressive: refrigeration, electricity, telephones, computers, etc. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icyball https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icyball
- HeyLaughingBoy 13y ago
  Be careful with your "we." The US is one of the few countries where eggs are typically refrigerated. Eggs will last for months if merely kept cool. Historically, milk was "preserved" by turning it into cheese.

by beambot 13y ago

thaumasiotes 13y ago

This is fair. We chose grain because we hated starving to death in the winter. But we like grain now! History and evolution are on its side at this point. Refrigeration enables us to eat many things that people two generations ago literally couldn't, but I note that cereals are still a very large portion of what we, in all our riches, choose to eat. My family eats a lot of bread, without bothering to refrigerate it. Some things that we refrigerate now, but historically didn't have to, are eggs and milk. Do you know how those were treated in your grandmother's day? The image I have from history is that milk was produced and consumed in large quantities, and "refrigerated" (iceboxed) then as now. But clearly (?), what was good enough for milk was too good for... lettuce? ;) Just as a fun side observation, there are some other obvious concerns, if you're starting from a hunter-gatherer state: jerky keeps significantly better than grain does, and is packed full of calories, and is ultra-low-tech, but grain production can be scaled up in a way that would be extremely difficult for jerky. So we built granaries and tolerated massive losses to rats essentially because even after the losses we could produce more grain than "other food".

beambot 13y ago
Eggs and Milk came right from the chickens and cows. Thankfully, I was spared this lifestyle (thanks mom!). Some of the earliest practical refrigeration on the farm (eg. the Icy Ball [1]) is from the early-late 1920s. That was during my grandmother's lifetime. If you think about it, the change in lifestyles she's witnessed in ~100 years is pretty bloody impressive: refrigeration, electricity, telephones, computers, etc. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icyball https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icyball
HeyLaughingBoy 13y ago
Be careful with your "we." The US is one of the few countries where eggs are typically refrigerated. Eggs will last for months if merely kept cool. Historically, milk was "preserved" by turning it into cheese.