Cheese and the first food

Speaking of cheese, anybody care to guess what was the
first food to be manufactured in large lots and stored?

[Benjamin]

Hmmm... how about, "Cheese"

[PJB]

Was it cheese?

No. Cheese is dependent upon a steady supply of milk from
domesticated sources (sheep, goats,horses, cows...). This
food was in existences literally thousands of years prior
to domestication of large herbivores.

[PJB]

so it's probably not Beef Jerky then

[Benjamin]

wheat

Nope.

Wheat was grown, not manufactured. And I use the term
manufactured advisedly here. It simply means you had to do
something to it before it was ready for consumption and/or
storage.

[PJB]

Bananas or water

No and no.

1. Water is not considered a food, and (prior to Evian)
was not manufactured in any way shape or form.

2. Bananas were manufactured, in the sense that they were
developed from long stem grasses, but they were and are not
capable of being stored for long periods (long being
defined as 30+ days)

[PJB]

I guess fish wouldn't really be manufactured either, got me on this one

[Benjamin]

rice

In the sense that fish could be systematically caught and
dried/smoked/salted, you could have been right. But you're
not.

BTW, bananas are much older than I thought....but still too
young by about 6000 years.

Rice, same as with wheat. Only that you were much closer
with wheat.

[Benjamin]

grain

No

[Benjamin]

flour

Better, Dennis. Flour actually has to be manufactured.
But its still wrong.

[Benjamin]

Grrr....
you said manufactured "something has to be done with it" grain, wheat, rice, they all have to be chopped down.... so according to your definition... those were manufactured....

[Benjamin]

cranberries(dried)

[PJB]

corn meal

[barrk]

BEER????????????????????????????????????????

Bingo. Beer it is.

And, Dennis, we're not talking Coors Light here. The beers
of 8-10,000 years ago were more nutrient rich than anything
we have now. They also tasted like piss. The remaining
mash could be dried and would keep for months at a time.
For interesting reading, search on "history of beer".

[barrk]

DerFarm....do I get a beer for being right?

[PJB]

and turnips i think they've been around for a while

Oddly enough, you might be right PJ. I did a quick search
on turnips, anticipating that they were a root crop first
used in Peru, like potatoes.

Turns out, there is evidence of wild turnips in the
American Great plains from about 10K years back. The
Anasazi certainly harvested wild turnips. I couldn't find
any reference to cultivated, but I wouldn't be surprised if
there were some.

There are also references to turnips in Russian mythology
(Baba Yaga) and some of the Hungarian stories. Most
probably, those are more closely related to Parsnips, but
then the damn things taste the same so they're probably the
same family.

Interesting.

[HarryW]

Interesting? Umm...

[PJB]

i thought it was interesting

[barrk]

Me too! I big fan of vegetables....with or without cheese.

[HarryW]

I am surrounded by madmen.


(and women)

[PJB]

correct you are HarryW, let's have a tea party

[HarryW]

Got a cup of tea coming already, me mum's making one. Very handy to have around, mums. Tell me when to change, I've got a choice of two chairs here.

[barrk]

Mum's are great...aren't they??

[Benjamin]

hmmmm now I wonder why you would say that?? ;)