Grainy
“I am barley, I am not destroyed.” -Osiris
A staple food is one that is eaten every day. But staples are far from boring. 🤔 The story of the advent of agriculture, according to the ancient Egyptian tale of Osiris and Isis, was that Isis found barley growing wild and Osiris then introduced it to the Egyptian people. Because of this, the story goes, they abandoned cannibalism and led a more civilized life, per this food from the gods.
In a global sense, the advent of agriculture can be traced to between 10,000 and 7,000 BC in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, South America, and North America. In all of these cases, it was a grain that was first domesticated. And, in all cases, that grain changed the rituals, civic life, and relationship to the natural world for that culture. That's the power of food!