Today we have highly processed soy and corn in various forms. Progress!
Honestly, in the US, at least, we’ve run into the opposite problem - we eat too much meat for a healthy diet (on average, at least).
Suffering from success.
True. Eat your fruits and veggies raw, kids!
You don’t gotta eat em raw for health sake. Some are better for you cooked even.
But it builds character.
Well, at times and in some places, medieval Europeans ate probably even more. In the 15th century, Barcelonians ate an average of 140 pounds of meat per year, almost triple of today’s consumption.
Post-Plague diets were much improved from pre-Plague diets, and regional variation (especially in areas where pastoralism is strong, like northeastern Spain) was present, but the article also uses later livestock yields for estimating Barcelona’s consumption when livestock of the period were only 50%-75% as heavy before the advent of modern breeding and the four-field system in the 18th century.
I’m actually very interested to read about the households of the Earls of Stafford and Warwick, though, that sent me down a rabbit hole of Renaissance/Late Medieval diet that I suspect I will very much enjoy.
Explanation: Despite the arcadian romanticization of the farmer’s life, historically subsistence farmers had it quite… rough. Not least in the issue of food - processing grain was labor-intensive, and less-labor-intensive porridge (and flatbread, especially ash cakes) was a major source of calories for the poor.
Some people actually like grain water, though. Barbarians!
Humans be like Staple Crop
When I started eating vegan, I had a bit of an existential crisis, because all my foods were either plants or salt. (I’m not really into mushrooms so far.)
That existential crisis settled down when I realized that it’s not terribly different from non-vegan diets, since milk, eggs and meat are derived from plants just as well. And presumably, mushrooms are in some roundabout way, too.
Except then I got an existential crisis, because the entire human food chain foots on plants. We’re made from 100% plant material, how are we not just salty plants?
Mushrooms are fucking gross dude. Imo instant dish ruiner.
Just salt me and call it a day; I’m ready for the next stage of human diet
How about rice?
Bulgur, I mean.
Agriculture was a trap
Get me some cheese to melt on that baked grain and I’m in.
The Greek philosopher Epicurus, who posited that the path to human happiness was (sustainable, appreciated) pleasure, once supposedly impressed a ruler so much that the ruler offered him vast estates, should he wish it, as a reward for his wisdom.
Epicurus just asked for some bread and a bowl of hot cheese, so he could “feast like a king”.
Gotta appreciate the good things in life!
