The Wild Side of Everyday Food

 by Anne Munier

Thousands of years ago, in what is now Mexico, people chewed a wild grass called teosinte, enjoying the sweet juice from the stalks. The plant was short and bushy-looking, with lots of stems going every which way. People didn’t bother much with the seeds, because they were covered by a hard, protective case.

But every once in a while a mutation -- or unexpected slipup in the plant’s genetic structure -- came along, and suddenly some plants appeared without seed casings. This wasn’t great news for the plant -- animals could eat and digest these unprotected seeds, so the plant was less likely to reproduce. It was pretty good news for people though, who got to finally taste the seeds!

Teosinte seed head. Photo credit: Two Row Times

In truth, even the “naked seeds” weren’t anything to get too excited about -- there were only a few per seed head, which were dry and potatoey-tasting. But they were good enough for people to eat, and even to plant a few (perhaps inadvertently at first, when seeds accidentally fell into the soil near people’s home). 

Hard little teosinte seeds. Photo Credit: Two Row Times

These seeds produced more naked-seeded teosinte. Over time, people learned that when they planted the seeds from their favourite plants -- say those with the biggest, juiciest, or sweetest seeds; or those easiest to grind into flour; or those less vulnerable to pest attacks -- many of the next generation’s plants would have these same characteristics. 

Over hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, farmers changed the plant from a bushy wild grass with lots of tiny seed heads, into a tall, straight plant with a few large cobs, each containing hundreds of big seeds. Not only did the plant provide more food, but it was easier to harvest, easier to eat, and, well, it just plain tasted better. In short, about 9000 years ago, these Mexican farmers turned the wild grass teosinte into maize (also called corn), now one of the most important food crops in the world! 

Lots of changes on the journey from teosinte to corn! Check out how large the cob is compared to a coin. Photo credit: Nicole Roger Fuller, National Science Foundation

The process of changing wild plants (and animals!) into domestic ones by choosing the favourite ones to reproduce is called selective breeding. It’s the basis of agriculture! While corn was being domesticated in Mexico, the same process was happening with wheat in the Middle East, bananas in New Guinea, rice in China, and millet in Africa (among so many others). 

Wild relatives of modern potatoes. Photo by L. Salazar

 

A commercially-sold banana beside a wild relative. Photo by A. D'Hont

Carrots still look much like wild carrots, though larger and juicy!

It’s Thanksgiving as I write this, one of many harvest festivals celebrated around the world. As we honour food, family and friends, I think of the special debt of gratitude we owe Indigenous People in all parts of the world who -- over millennia and still today -- learned and shared so much about the local environment, and how we can sustain communities with the gifts of nature.

(Traditional knowledge has many stories for the origin of corn/maize, taro, camas, and other important foods. Some of these stories are shared in books and online resources. Indigenous people keep this traditional knowledge as part of culture, history, and how the world is understood.)