Did crops expand in tandem with culinary practices from their region of origin? Evidence from ancient DNA and material culture.

Hunt, Harriet V.; Jiang, Hongen; Liu, Xinyi; Lister, Diane L.; Abuduresule, Yidilisi; Li, Wenying; Wang, Changsui; Jones, Martin K.

Did crops expand in tandem with culinary practices from their region of origin? Evidence from ancient DNA and material culture.

Resource type

Journal article

Creator (person)

Hunt, Harriet V.

Jiang, Hongen

Liu, Xinyi

Lister, Diane L.

Abuduresule, Yidilisi

ORCID

Li, Wenying

Wang, Changsui

Jones, Martin K.

Date published

January 15, 2024

Abstract

Grain-cooking traditions in Neolithic China have been characterised as a ‘wet’ cuisine based on the boiling and steaming of sticky varieties of cereal. One of these, broomcorn millet, was one of the earliest Chinese crops to move westward into Central Asia and beyond, into regions where grains were typically prepared by grinding and baking. Here, the authors present the genotypes and reconstructed phenotypes of 13 desiccated broomcorn millet samples from Xinjiang (1700 BC–AD 700). The absence in this area of sticky-starch millet and vessels for boiling and steaming suggests that, as they moved west, East Asian cereal crops were decoupled from traditional cooking practices and were incorporated into local cuisines.

Funder

Funder name	Awards
National Natural Science Foundation of China, China	41672171
FP7 Ideas: European Research Council, European Union	249642
National Science Foundation, United States	1826727
Gerda Henkel Foundation, Germany	AZ 05/ZA/12
Leverhulme Trust, United Kingdom	F/09717/C - RPG-2017-196