archeology

Slaves to wheat: How a grain domesticated us

"Suddenly, within just a few short millennia, it was growing all over the world. According to the basic evolutionary criteria of survival and reproduction, wheat has become one of the most successful plants in the history of the earth. Worldwide, wheat covers about 2.25 million square kilometres of the globe's surface, almost 10 times the size of Britain. How did this grass turn from insignificant to ubiquitous?" writes Harari.

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Instead of depending on myriad food sources and species, we often got stuck with a single staple such as wheat, which is poor in "minerals and vitamins, hard to digest, and really bad for your teeth and gums".