Reading Questions

1. Summarize the introduction

Page
#
ix, xii,

2. What made maize attractive to

man as a farming crop?

3,5,

3. Explain the impact of mutations

on maize, wheat and rice.

5,7,
9,11,

Answer (In complete paragraphs and sentences)

The introduction of a book serves one job: to give the r

some context for the book they are about to read, and
manipulate the readers mindset so that they may go on
read the book the way the author intended it to be read
Standage does just that in this introduction, encouragin
readers to look at history as a series of transformation
caused, enabled, or influenced by food. Using well-kn
historical examples such as the Revolutionary War he
highlights the often overlooked role food played in the
outcome; leaving readers with realizations that might h
otherwise gone un-pondered upon. Standage then goe
explain all that the book would cover: the intersections
between food history and world history, and the ways
which food has been the hand which forged the metal
humanity into the shining sword it is today. In short, Sta
aims to ask one simple question: Which foods have d
most to shape the modern world, and how? leaving th
reader eager for more.
As Standage states, Maize appears to be a gift from n
it even comes wrapped up. And being a human creati
makes maize, originally teosinte, no less of a gift to hu
in many ways it is the perfect crop. Tall, easy to pluck s
are a model of efficiency when it comes to feeding hun
of hungry mouths, and their easy to eat nutrition-packe
kernels are larger than those of other cereals. Not to m
maize has a leafy husk which acts as a shield against
farmers worst enemy, pests and moisture.
The impact of mutations on maize, wheat and rice sha
common characteristic; It makes all three ultimately inc
of surviving on their own in the wild, domesticating the
maize, mutations can affect the height of an ear, the si
the glumes (exposing the kernels), and how close to th
ground maize grows meaning the kernels were more
nutritious. Rice was breed to possess taller and larger
often times with secondary branches and larger grains
increase yield. Wheat and rice are both cereal grains,
main feature which separates their wild and domestica
designs is that the domesticated version is shatterpro
means that the grains will not fly off of the rachis when
the wind blows or it is touched. This is highly inconven
humans who wish to farm them, and so plants were se
which had a certain genetic mutation that did not allow

4. Explain how early civilizations

tied crops to their creation stories.

14,
15,

5. Analyze the statement that the

adoption of farmingwas the worst
mistake in the history of the human
race. Use the book to explain your
answer.

16,17
,

6. Describe the reasons

for the shift from
hunting and gathering
to farming.

PRAISE

rachis to become brittle preventing the grains from flyin

when it shatters. A mutation in wheat causes the hard
that cover each grain to separate more easily, making
for farmers to separate the edible grains. In each of the
crops, the less desirable of the traits would have been
over in favor of the bigger better mutated crops. This h
to proliferate the desired mutations, making farming m
efficient and with the help of these three domesticated
lay the foundation of civilization.
Crops were regarded as sacred by many early civilizat
it only makes sense to use the things that literally fuel
help explain the start of it.
Speaking on a short term basis, the invention of farmin
domesticated crops left people worse off than they pre
were, making the statement in question true. Leaving t
hunter-gatherer lifestyle for farming meant leaving thei
time behind as well. The !King Bushmen of the Kalaha
example, typically spend twelve to nineteen hours a w
collecting food, while the farmers are over in the fields
busting their britches. The health benefits a surplus o
provides is quickly negated by the fact that many
Proto-farmers suffered from malnutrition; following the
concept of a staple crop farmers diets lacked the nutr
diversity of a hunter-gatherers. Evidence of this lays in
archaeological excavations which concluded that short
the change in lifestyle the average human height decre
in farming communities.
Before the invention of farming most of humanity were
Hunter-Gatherers. That is, they hunted animals and
gathered wild plants for their sustenance. These small
lived a simple life, feeding off the world around them a
went about their laid-back lifestyle. However, they coul
stay in one area for too long less they deplete all its
resources, so they adapted: They lived in small clans o
tribes, and followed the migration of animals and the s
growth of edible plants, ensuring a supply of food wher
they made camp. Hunter-gatherers had been planting
crops in certain frequented areas to ensure sufficient s
upon their return. As groups became more sedentary or living in one place instead of moving to different plac
more and more children were being born, and the hunt
gatherer no longer produced enough food to support th
growing population. With those factors in mind, the tran
to farming seemed like a no-brainer: a sedentary life a

7. Give specific examples of how

farmers spread out, taking their
knowledge with them.

22,23

them to establishment of civilizations on what used to b

temporary camp grounds, and adopting an agricultural
provided a surplus of food to feed that growth. Previou
success with basic ecosystem manipulation gave the n
farmers the experience they needed in order to make t
from hunting-gathering to farming. Although it is import
note that at no point did anyone make a conscious de
to adopt an entirely new lifestyle. As I mentioned earli
humans just adapted their lifestyle in a way that made
at the time based on the environment- whereas the ch
an agricultural society was simply the outcome of man
adaptations over a period of time.
Even today, many thousands of years later, the distrib
human languages and genes continues to reflect the a
of farming. The impact the spread of farming had on t
world is overwhelming in everyday life. Often unapprec
farmers made an enormous amount of cultural contribu
to the world, such as the languages we speak and th
foods we eat. The question is not what aspects of agr
spread, but how did farming spread from just a few par
the world to the entirety of it? Historians pose two deba
upon processes: Demic diffusion in which farmers
themselves are said to have spread out, and cultural
diffusion where the knowledge of farming was spille
the world like a cup of milk unto the ground, spreading
other territories and infusing itself into the existing cultu
former is supported by evidence from many parts of th
such as farmers from China introducing rice agriculture
Japan starting in around 300 B.C. The distribution of la
was a welcomed side effect of the diffusion of agricultu
Today, nearly 90 percent of the worlds population spe
language belonging to one of the seven language fami
that had their origins in two agricultural homelands: Th
Fertile Crescent and parts of China. Yet it Is also poss
cultural diffusion could have taken place in locations su
Europe, where several archaeological sites found evid
farmers and hunter-gatherers living side by side and tr
goods. This coexisting is entirely plausible, the two dif
lifestyle do not compete with one another, wouldnt hav
fought over land, and each had things the other didnt
making them a trading match made in heaven. Eventu
hunter-gatherers either were forced to move on, joined
farming communities, or learned the trade of farming

8. Analyze the statement that

farming has done more to change
the world, and has had a great
impact on the environment, than
any other human activity, using the
book to support your answer

25,27
,

Part 2: FOOD AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE

1. Describe how the stratification of 32,33
society was made possible and how
it transformed the nature of human
existence.

themselves.
So it seems the answer to our puzzle comes in the form
hybrid process: a migrant farming population spread i
Europe and was gradually diluted by intermarriage, s
the resulting population ended up being descended fro
groups. The spread of farming from its agricultural
homelands combined with the rapid growth of farming
communities meant that the farmers outnumbered the
gatherers within a few thousand years. By 2000 B.C.,
majority of humanity had taken up farming.
During domestication, plants were genetically reconfig
by humans; and as agriculture was adopted humans w
genetically refigured by plants.
The domestication of crops was an unprecedented fea
genetic engineering. By planting crops and propagatin
with desirable traits, humans created an entirely new s
one which would not exist without our intervention. Sim
the invention of farming and the adoption of agricultura
societies made it possible for civilization to evolve into
we know it. When the fundamental shift from hunting a
gathering to farming began the earths population was
small- estimated 5-10 million people- and had been rel
stable for the last 2 million years due to the hazardous
of the hunter-gathering lifestyle. Beginning with the Ag
Agriculture, however, humans began to prosper, and
population began to grow dramatically. The surplus of
food was able to accommodate for the sudden swell in
population. The age of agriculture and beyond facilitate
many significant changes which historians attribute to
development of civilization.

After the Age of Agriculture, for the first time ever there w
more or less constant surplus of food- extra food other pe
can eat as they do other things rather than farming. As no
as it might seem to us, the concept of people spending th
days doing different things was entirely new and made po
by agriculture. And with different professions came how s
viewed those professions, AKA social stratification. And n
food = power because whoever had control on the food d
where it would go, now a small group of elites had the po
do all kinds of new things: Wage wars, build temples, py
and support the production of elaborate craft items by sp
sculptors, weavers and metal workers. One entity contr
the destiny of the civilization, using food as a tool to struc

2. Explain why people had

previously regarded the
accumulation of food and power to
be so dangerous and destabilizing
and why this eventually changed.

3. Compare the relationship of

hunter-gatherer bands, food and
other hunter-gatherer bands.

35,36
,
34,

and give shape to society as well as lay down the next st

stone towards civilization. Soon social stratification, made
possible by agriculture became present in every part of th
with farming.
All Hunter-gather clans had one thing in common: equ
Almost all hunter gatherer clans value sharing, and wit
them exists a social pressure to share. Sharing even e
to the dinner table. Especially in modern hunter-gather
bands theres an obligation to share ones food with ev
this helps even the food supply out as well as provide
insurance on days when nobody else caught anything.
same selfless fashion claiming patches of land (and it
associated food resources) is not allowed. If two band
members were to get into an argument over who owne
spot of land it might split the band up- and when a ban
consists of 7-15 people ones hopes of surviving much
after the break up is slim at best. There are no classe
ranks, since everything is shared amongst the clan eve
simultaneously owns nothing and everything- theres n
to get a leg-up on another member. Hunter-gatherers w
also weary of bragging and an attempt to put another i
So every time a great hunter comes back with a prize k
tease hi, calling his catch tiny and in the process bruisi
ego. It is not meant to be offensive, the hunter is alway
the joke, and is required to take it as such. All of the
aforementioned measures are in place to prevent prec
what agriculture started- social stratification and one m
regarding himself as superior. The !Kung has develope
strict egalitarianism ,which can be regarded as a socia
technology, developed to ensure social harmony and a
reliable supply of food for everyone. Was their world pe
No. But It was clear that their society was run strictly o
supply- and the fact that food in the wild is scarce and
come by. So when agriculture came along, the world fl
upside down on itself. Suddenly there was the ability to
up on food, to accumulate a stash and to strive to join
ranks of the rich (and by extent powerful). For the first
not only was humanity accepting a ranking system of i
and superior, they were encouraging an accumulation
wealth and power.
Hunter-gatherer bands were groups of people that dep
primarily on wild foods for subsistence. This meant tha
life was run by where the food was, and wasnt at any
time. Environments with an abundance of food is rare,

4. Explain how powerful leaders

emerged and how they ended up in
control of the agricultural surplus
and maintained power. Use 3
examples from the book.
6. Explain how the modern world is
still connected to food.
Part 3: GLOBAL HIGHWAYS OF FOOD
1. Analyze the impact of spices on
trade, geography, and the spread of
religion.
2. Describe the role that spices
played with the plague.

most foraging groups must move whenever the local s

food begins to be exhausted. In these cases possessio
limited to what can be carried from one camp to anothe
nomadic lifestyle means women are less likely to have
multiple children, as they become an extra weight to dr
whole clan down.
d other of the elites activities.

Wealth is largely determined by ones access to food, a

that way food is very much still intertwined with currenc
value in the modern world.

Religion spread through trade routes so everyone sp

same language

At first people were told to eat spices and medicinal he

that they prevented against the plague, but soon it bec
clear that spice trading ships were in large part respon
for the spread of the plague.
3. Explain how spices influenced
Battles were fought over control of the spice trade, esp
European exploration and colonial
by the Portuguese, in the end people grew bored of sp
empires, giving specific examples
there was no mystery shrouding their origins anymorefrom the book.
the main selling points, people grew tired of over-spice
as well, and because of this spices greatly decreased
value..
Part 4: FOOD, ENERGY AND INDUSTRIALIZATION
1. Explain the role that botany
played in the search for new plants.
2. Summarize the spread of sugar
cane and its role in the world
events.
3. Trace the role of the potato in
society and its impact on population
size, government and economic
policies.

Part 6: FOOD, POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT

1. Explain the importance of
Nitrogen and Ammonia to
agriculture.
2. Explain how and why dwarf
varieties became so popular and
productive.
3. What is the Green Revolution?
4. Analyze the impact of the Green
Revolution on world economies and
population.
5. Describe the problems with the
Green Revolution. How might a
second Green Revolution improve
on those problems?
6. Summarize the Epilogue.
OVERALL EVALUATION
1. What do you think of Standages
approach to history? Is this a useful
way to think about history? What
other approaches might one take?
2. Did you like this book? Why or
why not?