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All you need to do to make wheat edible is soak it in water to make it soft enough to chew. Wheat in water is “gruel”.

You can improve upon it by boiling, which will dehydrate the gruel into a primitive bread. The drained, starchy liquid, if left to sit for awhile, will become a primitive ale. Grinding makes it easier to eat.

Every dietary use is an evolutionary progression from soaking wheat in water.

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MacNCheezus@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Yup, it’s not so much that wheat requires all of this processing, it just makes it tastier and easier to eat.

I reckon that after inventing farming, people probably just had a lot more time on their hands, so they sat around trying to come up with ways to avoid having to eat the same boring gruel every day.

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- rumschlumpel@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  
  I reckon that after inventing farming, people probably just had a lot more time on their hands,
  
  AFAIK farming actually took a lot more work hours than hunting+gathering, it’s just less risky. But yeah, simple soaked or boiled grain is pretty boring compared to meat, berries and nuts.
  
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  - MacNCheezus@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    I mean, people obviously still engaged in hunting and gathering (they do to this day) to enrich their diet, it just wasn’t as crucial to survival.
    
    Also, most of the work of farming happens in the spring and the fall (i.e. sowing and harvesting seasons). The rest of the year it’s pretty hands off, which gives you plenty of time to engage in other activities.
    
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    rumschlumpel@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    Sure, but hunter-gatherers still have tons of free time. There are still people who live like that, people have observed and studied them.
    
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Cruxifux@feddit.nl ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Interesting!

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