Currently Reading: An Edible History of Humanity

I am a big fan of TVO's Big Ideas lecture series, it did, after all, introduce me to Malcolm Gladwell. I caught a lecture a while back that was so gloriously entertaining. It was given by Tom Standage and was based on his book "The History of the World in Six Drinks". I remember telling myself "Buy that book!" But, being the procrastinator that I am, I never got around to it. Whenever I went to Chapters, I always seemed to have another book in mind. Finally, years later I finally decided to pick it up. After consulting the Oracle (aka the Chapters iMac), I tracked it down in the General History section. But, when I got to the shelf, quite the predicament presented itself: Should I buy the book I'd searched for? The one that I'd heard the lecture on that I found to intensely interesting? Or, should I buy its follow-up: "An Edible History of Humanity"? I opted for the latter, and I am glad I did! It is so interesting. It basically traces the anthropological and sociopolitical effect food has had on humanity: Interesting? Y-E-S. I am only four parts into the first chapter and am so hooked. This is a bit of what I've learned so far:

1. Carrots: Naturally purple or white; orange carrots were engineered by the Dutch in the seventeenth century to honour William I, the prince of Orange.
2. Corn, or Maize as it's called in the book, is a completely domesticated plant that would not exist except for human driven agricultural efforts. It has evolved into an X-men-style mutant version of its ancestor.  
3. According to some anthropologists, Agriculture/farming is humankind's biggest mistake. The hunting-gathering lifestyle is better suited to human life. Hunter-gatherers were healthier than their modern counterparts. As we know, height is a good indicator of overall health: Male hunter-gatherers in Mesopotamia were, on average, 5'9", women 5'5". Alternatively, modern Greek farmers (from the same area) averaged 5'3" for men and 5'0" for women....SHOCKING!