Food

We must eat in order to survive. Food contains energy, vitamins, and nutrients necessary for the human body to function properly. But people's eating habits vary considerably from one region and cultural sphere to another.

One reason behind this diversity is the global variation of the natural environment. The earth has a myriad of variably sized habitats and ecosystems, which affect the availability of foodstuffs. For example, people residing along waterways and coasts have traditionally eaten more fish than those living inland. Human curiosity, mobility, and the subsequent exchange of ideas and goods has greatly diversified these patterns. New food items and ways of preparing and consuming food have typically spread along trade routes, landing in the primary centers of exchange.

The dependency of cities on a continuous food supply from the countryside has further shaped the regional patterns of food production. Land around cities is typically more valuable, which directs agricultural production in these areas toward laborintensive, easily perishable food items that need to reach their urban markets and processing facilities without delay. One example of this regional differentiation per land value, production costs, and demand is the dairy and vegetable production “belt” around the cities in the Great Lakes area and eastern seaboard in the United States. Meat, corn, and wheat can be produced farther away, on cheaper land, but still within good transportation connections to processing plants and urban centers.

Urban settlement is a direct result of agriculture. For an estimated 2.5 million years, humans lived as hunters and gatherers. The gradual development of [Page 689]agriculture enabled them to give up their nomadic lifestyles and cluster in settlements. The earliest evidence of planted crops include rice in what today is South Korea (about 15,000 years ago) and figs in the Jordan River Valley in the Middle East (11,000–12,000 years ago). Dogs, goats, pigs, and sheep were among the first domesticated animals.

Surplus food produced by the land encouraged a differentiation of tasks and increased trade between the settlements. Specialized professionals, such as makers of tradeable goods, administrators, merchants, and soldiers, were supported by the producers of food. Food thus became a strategic resource, guaranteeing survival, increased prosperity and power. The saying, “armies marching on their stomachs,” is well known, for only well-fed troops stay healthy, disciplined, and capable of efficient combat. Mighty cities have fallen after their supply of food has been cut off and their defenders have faced starvation to death.