Rachel Laudan

Sorry, folks.  I hit the publish on this before I meant to.  In any case an interesting story in Slate.  I’d actually put the beginnings of the Japanese move to wheat at the beginning of the twentieth century.  That established the idea that wheat was good and strengthening, laying the foundations for the  big increase [...]

Here’s my stab at an answer, or rather a couple of answers.  I’ll concentrate on Europe but I think the same would apply in most places grains are used (except perhaps Africa and Mexico, because maize is a bit different). Answer One. Whole grains are hard on the system. Today we don’t eat many grains [...]

Here’s a really long overdue post, promised to Chef Lastino Apochito a year ago when I was visiting Panama City for the quite fascinating first Panamá Gastronómica. He approached me after a session on the Afro-Antillean cuisine to be found in Panamá. He was, he said, worried that his people, the Embera, were losing their [...]