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What is the oldest common food in the typical western diet? (lemmy.world)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Of the things available to most of us, what are common and the oldest things we might find on a store shelf?

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

I'm going to suggest food items that we still take from nature and eat with minimal preparation:

Honey
Fish like salmon, trout, grouper
Shellfish (eg oysters)

We have evidence of shellfish and fish being eaten for a very long time - at least the middle stone age at 140kya - in middens which are 10s of thousands of years old.

Honey is likely to have been a food source - a treat even - even before humans left Africa (so before 100kya) but sadly this would be invisible in the archeological record

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I was going to say oatmeal, but honey is actually a better answer, since it predates even agriculture as a major food.

If you live somewhere with fresh seafood that's also a great answer. I wonder if grocery stores somewhere sell fresh insects, although that wouldn't be the West as per OP.