Cereals
Cereal grains have been the staple food of all the great civilisations. The word cereal comes from Cerere, goddess of the harvest. The main cereal grains used in ancient times were barley and spelt in its two varieties: triticum dicoccum, the oldest, and triticum monococcum.
Triticum dicoccum, the spelt used nowadays to make spelt pasta, was replaced by other types of wheat. In China, the most widespread cereal grain was millet, which then spread to Europe and Africa. During Etruscan times millet was the preferred cereal grain. Barley, which had been quite popular, became the cereal grain used as punishment .
In convents, penance was done by drinking water and eating barley bread. Rice, too, originated in Asia and arrived in Italy in the 14th Century, specifically in the Po River area. Corn became very popular throughout the whole of America.
