I began this term taking a course called Food for Thought. In the course, I learned about the history and journey of many of the world’s most popular foods. In this project, I explored the journey of one food that has been important in my family, that food is wheat. I started this project by finding out more about my family’s history with food. I discovered that wheat in the form of baked goods, treats, and Thanksgiving stuffing have always been a staple food in our family. I also saw a pattern in our food history. I was not surprised to find that many of the favorite foods in my family were farm foods that fed large families. They were lots of farmers on my family tree! After determining some of my family history I decided to pursue wheat as my research project. I began by researching wheat’s journey across the world. I also found out through my assignments how food and where it’s growing has played an important part in society. For example, when crops are bad there is more war. I was also shocked to find out how poor the working conditions are for people making sugar. I learned through this process that it takes a lot of work to grow the food we eat and that the food comes from all over the world.
“My family’s heritage of cooking farm food for large groups of people is my mother’s first memory of cooking. Sweet foods and baked goods were very valued and always featured at big family parties.” Hey! Does this kid even know how much I’m featured in his family history? I’ve been an essential part of his family food history as long as his family has had a history. An example from this kid’s life is his mom’s Thanksgiving recipe for stuffing. Stuffing’s main ingredient is bread and bread is made out of me, wheat. I was one of the first plants to be domesticated approximately 10,000 years ago. I was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent region of Mesopotamia. By 7000 BCE, small-scale agriculture reached Egypt. I was used to making bread in Egypt. You can find pictures of me in Egyptian tombs. I was super popular in the Roman Empire by 168 BC the first Bakers Guild was established, within 150 years there were more than three hundred pastry chefs in Rome. I was moved through trade routes and immigration. Human archaeologists have found evidence of one of my siblings named Emmer Wheat in neolithic sites in continental Europe, Great Britain, and Ireland. Originally I was cultivated and traded by primitive women in agrarian societies as it increased the food supply for early people. In the middle ages and in the 17th-century I was often “landrace” meaning for centuries I was only grown where I was domesticated. I wasn’t strong enough to travel to other areas. As people grew more robust varieties of me I became more widely traded and grown. Surprisingly America and Australia did not have their own wheat varieties. I had to rely on immigrants to bring me to these countries. A great example of this is one of my siblings called Turkey Red who was brought to Kansas in 1874 by Mennonites from Crimea, Russia. Turkey Red was a success, they once covered over 90% of wheat acreage in the Great Plains. There were two ways that farmers helped me spread throughout the world. First, they moved me to wide regions where mountains helped separate weather systems (5000 to 2500 BCE). Farmers also developed new agriculture techniques that allowed for multiple crops and longer growing sessions (2500 to 1500 BCE). Now, you will often find me ground into flour. At the beginning of my story, I talked to you about stuffing. The wheat for the flour used to make the bread for the stuffing was likely grown in Logan, Utah, and ground at Central Milling in Utah. Central Milling is a flour mill that has operated for over 150 years and first served Mormons who had moved from New York to Utah. So you can see that I have had quite a journey!
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