Sowing those Seeds!
A HISTORY OF FOOD Part 1
OK, Folks ready for some history? Reason I called this blog 'Seeds' will become apparent.
Mankind had spent many a thousand of years evolving, and in doing so had survived a couple of very cold Ice ages,brrr! Man had to forage, roam and hunt and keep on moving with the seasons. And of course this is still true with many nomadic peoples around the world.Then about 12,000 years ago a Revolution started and it is rumoured that it was the womenfolk who started it! (The blokes started revolutions too, of course, but they were usually Wars!!).
My fertile imagination reckons it went like this:
While the guys returned from hunting, (or in much later years, from the Pub!) the ladies were waiting, hands on hips, saying with undisguised impatience 'hey, guys , isn't it about time we stayed in one place to live? I mean we (clever females as always) have worked out that if we plant the seeds of all those berries we have been gathering for years, they will grow more fruit and other food!'
The guys did not understand at first of course, and just grunted and went back to the hunt. But the women folk persisited and soon harvests grew. The blokes, ever practical started to Irrigate the land , so they had to settle by a river and soon the first cities evolved around the Middle East, then a bit later in India, China and Middle America. All significantelly springing up along great rivers like the Tigris, Nile and Ganges etc.
Each region gradually developed its own major crop. Wheat and Barley being the first in the Middle East and Rice and Millet throughout Asia. In Mexico, about 8000 years ago they began to cultivate the first veg that still sustain them today, Corn, beans and squash.
Next week: Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt and the domestication of animals for food.
See ya and Happy Easter1
OK, Folks ready for some history? Reason I called this blog 'Seeds' will become apparent.
Mankind had spent many a thousand of years evolving, and in doing so had survived a couple of very cold Ice ages,brrr! Man had to forage, roam and hunt and keep on moving with the seasons. And of course this is still true with many nomadic peoples around the world.Then about 12,000 years ago a Revolution started and it is rumoured that it was the womenfolk who started it! (The blokes started revolutions too, of course, but they were usually Wars!!).
My fertile imagination reckons it went like this:
While the guys returned from hunting, (or in much later years, from the Pub!) the ladies were waiting, hands on hips, saying with undisguised impatience 'hey, guys , isn't it about time we stayed in one place to live? I mean we (clever females as always) have worked out that if we plant the seeds of all those berries we have been gathering for years, they will grow more fruit and other food!'
The guys did not understand at first of course, and just grunted and went back to the hunt. But the women folk persisited and soon harvests grew. The blokes, ever practical started to Irrigate the land , so they had to settle by a river and soon the first cities evolved around the Middle East, then a bit later in India, China and Middle America. All significantelly springing up along great rivers like the Tigris, Nile and Ganges etc.
Each region gradually developed its own major crop. Wheat and Barley being the first in the Middle East and Rice and Millet throughout Asia. In Mexico, about 8000 years ago they began to cultivate the first veg that still sustain them today, Corn, beans and squash.
Next week: Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt and the domestication of animals for food.
See ya and Happy Easter1
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