Our daily bread

In the Stone Age people ate grains in raw form, and then learned how to rub them between stones and mixed with water. Thus appeared the first mill, the first meal and the first bread. First, the flour used in the form of a liquid gruel. Archaeologists have just discovered that the ancient analogue of our bread was a liquid grain porridge, which today consume in the form of soup in some countries in Asia and Africa. In the late Stone Age man moved from gathering wild grasses to primitive agriculture. The earliest agricultural sites were in North Africa, Near East, India and China. When people have learned to make fire and began to use it for cooking, they made another discovery. Most likely - by accident: a man was crushed roasted corn before mixing them with water, and found that porridge made of fire-treated seeds are much tastier. Later, people learned how to bake unleavened cakes of thick corn porridge test. These dense nerazryhlennye scorched pieces of grain mass bore little resemblance to the bread, but it was with the advent of the era of their bakery. A few more millennia before humans learned to cook bread from fermented dough. Era bakery. 6.5 thousand years ago the ancient Egyptians mastered the art of pick up the dough through its fermentation, using (they themselves, however, this did not know) the smallest organisms - baker's yeast and lactic acid bacteria. Yeast in the dough ferment, resulting in formation of carbon dioxide and alcohol. Carbon dioxide loosens the dough, making bread, lush and easy. Ancient Egyptians baked many different kinds of bread. Painting Egyptian bakery is shown by an unknown artist, who lived five thousand years ago, on the wall of the tomb of Pharaoh. Extant and sculpture of one of the most ancient representatives of the noble profession of baker: a small statue of mixers housed at the Museum of Giza (Egypt). The art of bread making from the ancient Egyptians turned to the Greeks and Romans. In ancient Greece the first mention of "sour" bread (from fermented corn dough) belongs to V. BC However, this bread is considered a delicacy and worth considerably more expensive than fresh. Homer, who described the meal of his heroes, has left us with evidence that the aristocrats of ancient Greece believed the bread completely independent dish. In those days lunch was served, usually 2 dishes: meat, roasted on a spit, and white wheat bread. Each of these meals eaten alone, but bread is given to the most important and honorable role. In the first centuries AD in India, there was a law that punished criminals that do not eat bread at a certain time (depending on what crime they committed). In this case, the Indians were sure that someone who does not eat bread, will have poor health and unhappy fate. And today the Indians are believers, doing the morning prayer, beginning with the words: "Everything is food, but the bread is its great mother." In ancient Egypt and ancient Greece, a specific role for stale bread. It was believed that it helps with stomach diseases. Many people considered the bread as a remedy against various diseases. And today, doctors recommend the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases eat stale bread. Bread world. Bakers Ancient Greece, we must, as scientists believe, and the origin of the word "bread". Greek masters used for the production of this product pots of special form - klibanos. From the name of ancient Goths was formed the word "hlayfs", which is then passed into the language of the ancient Germans, Slavs, and many other nations. In staronemetskom language has the word "hlayb" which is similar to our "bread", Ukrainian "hlib and Estonian" Life ". Bread of kings and king of bread. During the Middle Ages in many European countries it was easy to trace a direct relationship between the degree of freshness of bread and the social position of those who consume it. The royal family ate only fresh-baked bread, bread baking was for yesterday's high society, bread products, baked 2 days ago, supplied the representatives of the lower nobility and the bread three days old served as food for the monks and students, and bread, baked four days ago, fed the peasants and small artisans. However, at the same time in many medieval towns of Asia stale bread was considered more valuable than a freshly baked. French King Henry IV, recognizing the special, unique role of bread in the life of the people all of their titles added another - the king of bread - and spoke at the same time, that he who governs the nation's grain, is more a great leader, than he who governs only the souls of his subjects. Popular in the U.S. The Atkins Diet, calling to minimize the consumption of carbohydrates and protein to eat, can destroy the American Bakery, reports British newspaper The Independent. Fearing a further fall in sales (last year alone, demand for grain fell by 40%), owners of the bakery will soon hold a "bread summit". At the meeting scheduled to discuss measures to raise demand. In the UK, where demand for grain falls at a much slower rate, a large-scale advertising campaign "Do not forget about the bread, eat another piece." In addition to producers of grain against the Atkins diet are the doctors. According to them, glycoprival food - it is an unjustifiably high risk to health. His arguments against such diets doctors presented on the site Atkinsdietalert.org. Meanwhile, at least 32 million U.S. residents are fed by Atkins. Creating significant challenges producers of bread, the Atkins diet raised the demand for meat. For example, in UK sales of beef has increased from 739 thousand tons in 1997, when the guide glycoprival diet was first published, to 990 thousand tons in 2002 Mednovosti