Forgotten Grains: Why the World Is Rediscovering the Diet of the Pharaohs
Our modern global food supply chain relies heavily on a perilously narrow selection of crops. A vast majority of the global population depends daily on just three primary staple crops: modern hybridized dwarf wheat, rice, and corn. While these high-yield crops have successfully fed billions and fueled the rapid urbanization of the twentieth century, their intensive monoculture cultivation has come at an incredibly steep cost to genetic diversity, environmental health, and human metabolic nutrition. The fields look uniform, but our diets have become tragically impoverished. Lately, however, a profound and quiet revolution has been taking place in fields and kitchens across the Western world. Farmers, artisanal bakers, and health-conscious consumers are looking backward to move forward. They are rediscovering ancient grains—specifically the robust, unadulterated varieties that sustained the great civilizations of antiquity, most notably the pharaohs of ancient Egypt. Grains l...
