Food time line

Yes it is an interesting line, kind of tells every one that the French didn't invent cooking like some seem to think.
 
Yes Bread, Beer and Soup all came about the same time just following agriculture. I guess hops and barley was the first crops as well as wheat or some other grain crop.
 
I noticed some internal inconsistencies. For example, the timeline purports to show shrimp, crab, and lobster as appearing in the first century A.D., but if you click on the associated link, it says these things have been eaten since prehistoric times. That makes much more sense. Indeed, Leviticus 11:10 addresses the subject.
 
I noticed that too but I think that they became part of a regular cultural diet or food source. A good example is the tomato which has been around for centuries but where consider poisonous until in the 1700 started eating them.
 
FryBoy said:
I noticed some internal inconsistencies. For example, the timeline purports to show shrimp, crab, and lobster as appearing in the first century A.D., but if you click on the associated link, it says these things have been eaten since prehistoric times. That makes much more sense. Indeed, Leviticus 11:10 addresses the subject.
Click to expand...

At the top of the main page, it says: "Some people will tell you it's impossible to express this topic in exact timeline format. They are correct. Most foods we eat are not invented; they evolve."

I believe when they list specific dates, it's because they have found references to certain foods and/or recipes in some kind of historical document. Of course, people were eating all kinds of foods long before there was recorded history.

It's a fascinating site; I read there when I can't sleep at night sometimes.
 
joec said:
I noticed that too but I think that they became part of a regular cultural diet or food source. A good example is the tomato which has been around for centuries but where consider poisonous until in the 1700 started eating them.
Click to expand...
I doubt that people living near the ocean ignored this plentiful (back then, anyway) food source for thousands of years. I suspect that lobster and crab have been consumed in abundance since we climbed down out of the trees. Shrimp probably came later, once people figured out how to make boats and nets.

The exception, of course, has been for religious reasons, and not just by Jews who keep Kosher. I learned at Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts that the Pilgrims wouldn't eat lobster because of the admonition in Leviticus ("it's not proper food, ya know," I was told), even though they were often near starvation. The bugs were reportedly so plentiful in the 1600s that they sometimes covered the beach and the noise from the clacking of their claws made it difficult to sleep at night.
 
I always figure the first person to eat crustaceans of any kind had to be pretty much starving to death. They sure don't appear appetizing though I love them all myself however. Insects are still a source of protein in a lot of places on the planet even in China. I agree with GotGarlic appraisal on this that the time line really is impossible to tell going back that far but probably based on records that have survived time.
 
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