[Sca-cooks] Early Flatbreads

[Johnna Holloway]

Another article here:

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/10/the-cavemens-complex-kitchen.html 
  indicates
"The grains came mostly from roots, stems, and leaves of cattail and  
fern plants, not the typical wheat and barley of modern farmers. After  
grinding, the early chefs most likely added water and cooked up a  
flatbread or soup, says co-author Laura Longo of the University of  
Siena in Italy. Because gathering and cooking were largely women's  
work, Revedin says evidence of grinding indicates an increasingly  
vital role for women in prehistoric societies."

Report is here for those with access:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/10/08/1006993107

Johnnae

On Oct 21, 2010, at 12:14 AM, Stefan li Rous wrote:

> <<<
> Article released yesterday in the NYTimes:
> "Paleolithic Humans Had Bread Along With Their Meat" snipped
> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/science/19bread.html? 
> _r=1&ref=science
>
> Johnnae >>>
>
> Hmmm.
>
> Why "bread"? Why not porridge? Made with smashed grain or roughly  
> ground grain rather than "flour" which, to me, sounds harder to do  
> and not necessarily more beneficial. Maybe it's just easier to cook  
> flatbreads on flat rocks than cooking a liquid.  Of course maybe  
> porridge can be done easily enough without grinding the grain at  
> all? So the fact that these folks took the time to create grinding  
> stones and time to actually grind the grain might point to bread. Of  
> course the actual archeological report might have missing details  
> that weren't in this article.
> Comments? Bear?