We blogged before about the BBC’s A History of the World in 100 Objects. But that was some months ago and there’s a whole bunch more programmes on agriculture-related objects in the can now. Well worth a listen.
Grain and Cities
The wait is over. Rachel Laudan’s talk at Postopolis is now available in two versions. Rachel herself carries a transcript of her talk, with some photos. And Nicola over at Edible Geography has the same transcript with different photos and a bit more by way of introduction. ((And according to Nicola videos are in the offing too.))
There is so much content there that I hardly know what to say, except that I am in awe of the research skills and basic understanding of the problem. The basic point is that “without food energy, a city is nothing”. For most people and most of history, that energy came from grains: about a kilo per person per day. And the consequences of that … go read!
Nibbles: Niu kafa, Rice origins, Monsanto seed donation, Soils, Red junglefowl
- More on Roland’s quest for the biggest coconut in the world.
- Rice cultivation in Lower Yangtze dates back to 6th millennium, and took a millennium to establish itself.
- Yet more on Haiti’s “hybrid hate.”
- Soil scientist says soils are important.
- “ARKive is creating the ultimate multimedia guide to the world’s endangered species”: including a wild relative or two.
Nibbles: Agricultural landscapes, Seed banks, Maize genetics, Food diversity, Ancient food, Micronutrients status report, Seed systems, Punjab Agricultural University, Arable land, Dutch elm disease
- “Priortizing restoration across agricultural landscapes.” Nothing to do with agriculture, though.
- “Gene banks to rescue local crops.” Nothing to do with genebanks, though.
- “‘Psychedelic’ maize may help increase crop and biofuel yields.” Nothing to do with LSD, though.
- Scotland gets a national genebank. Well, not really, but anyway.
- Malawi schoolchildren sing about food diversity. No, really.
- Homo erectus ate fish as part of a pretty diverse diet. Had to wait about 2 million years for chips.
- Report for 10-Year Strategy for Reduction of Vitamin & Mineral Deficiencies. “…activities to enhance dietary diversification are an attractive option for improving micronutrient status, but these have proved difficult to evaluate.” Ouch.
- “Integrating Genetic Resource Conservation and Sustainable Development into Strategies to Increase the Robustness of Seed Systems.” You’ll need to pay to find out how, though. I’ll try to get a pdf, some of the authors are friends.
- The role of Punjab Agricultural University in the Green Revolution. And in genetic erosion?
- Enough arable land to feed world, says new French study. But not here, say Indians.
- Reviving the elm in Britain one sapling at a time. How long till the next disaster, though, with such a narrow genetic base?
Ancient candy bars waiting to be rediscovered
It was something of a throw-away comment in the paper on the Kibale protected area in Uganda which I blogged about recently:
Tribes knew of coffee’s stimulant properties and mixed crushed coffee beans with animal fat to create “iron rations” used by warriors and travelers on long journeys (McCoy & Walker 1991). ((McCoy, E., and J. F. Walker. 1991. Coffee and tea. 3rd edition. Raines & Raines, New York.)) In the KNP region, coffee beans were used in blood rituals and in the ceremonies of Toro kings.
It piqued my interest, but I did nothing about it. But then, as often happens, I came across a slew of similar things, such as this write-up for a “new” kind of candy bar. And then a reference in a discussion about how cacao was consumed by the Maya:
Sometimes the Maya mixed the cacao with cornmeal to create a tightly packed material, almost like a hockey puck, that was more transportable. That’s how they stored it. There are texts that say it ended up being stolen by enemies since it was very highly valued. It was also taken by the warriors when they went to their next job, if you will. When they were on the go, they’d just take these things out of their pockets and eat some. They were like early energy bars!
Now there’s a topic for someone’s dissertation. Are there also examples of ancient energy bars using tea, qat, or coca, for example?