 by Anna Rita Mazzoli
biologist and nutritionalist
Cereals,
the ancient food of man
Cereals are plants that produce ears and seeds that contain very little
water and are rich in starches. They are part of the Gramineae family, most
of them herbaceous plants that can be found growing almost all over the
world, especially in the meadows, the steppes and the savanas. The word
cereals comes from Ceres, the Roman goddess of tillage and corn, and is
used to indicate plants that were part of man's basic diet as "resistence
foods", in other words, capable of providing energy of medium or long-term
duration. The most important of these cereals are: wheat, rice, barley,
maslin grain, oats, millet and maize. Buck wheat is also included among
the cereals although it is in actual fact part of the Polygonaceae family.
Reconstruction of a Neolithic village
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Cereals have characterized man's diet for thousands of years. The
very first traces of this kind of cultivation date back to 11.000 years
ago, when man gradually progressed from a hunting and collecting economy
to agriculture and the direct production of his own food, marking what
was a real revolution in the history of mankind. In Europe this event
constituted the beginning of the Neolithic Age, the last period of the
Stone Age, which was characterized by the new, skilfully made, lithic
instruments introduced by the farmers. The earliest forms of agricultural
development are first to be found in regions of the Middle East, China,
Central and Southern America. Each region cultivated one particular basic
food crop, which in some cases still remains the same today: wheat and
wild barley was cultivated in the Middle East, between the Iraq and Turkey
of today, millet and rice in China, and maize in Mexico and the Northern
Andes.
Plantation of maize in Africa.
Originally from the Americas,
today it is the basic food for a great many African countries. (Photo
Blue PlanetŠ) |
A greater availability of food led to a growth in the population,
the search for new lands, and the consequent spread of agriculture. This
expansion started in the Middle East about 9000 years ago and continued
to spread very slowly towards Europe and Iran, Pakistan and India. It
reached the furthermost parts of Europe, like England and Spain, about
5000 years ago. As these farmers and cattle breeders increased, they gradually
intermarried with the local populations of hunters and collectors. Therefore
there is absolutely nothing new about the recent fad for complete cereals,
naturally ground in stone mills, for they have nourished man for thousands
of years: in fact refined cereals and white flour, symbols of wealth and
civilization, have only been in general use since the late 19th century
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