“Eat your greens” is something we have been hearing since childhood. Have you ever wondered, why?! It is because leafy greens are loaded with several healthy nutrients and benefit our overall health. Besides, these vegetables are easy to make and help us keep full for long. Let’s agree, today leafy greens, especially the cooked ones, make a substantial part of everyday meal. But if you try and look for its origin, you will it dates back more than 3000 years ago. A team of archaeologists and archaeo-botanists from Germany’s Goethe University and the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom have unearthed that leafy greens were first cooked in West Africa some 3,500 years ago. The findings of the study were published in the journal ‘Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences’.
The researchers examined over 450 prehistoric pots – out of which, 66 pots had traces of lipids – organic compounds that are insoluble in water. And over a third of the 66 lipid profiles “displayed very distinctive and complex distributions”, which indicated that the plants had been processed before consumption.
This research is a part of a study that had been conducted for over 12 years by a team from Goethe University. They studied the Nok Culture of Central Nigeria, “which is known for its large terracotta figures and early iron production in West Africa in the first millennium BC,” a report reads. It adds that the research focused on the social context in which the sculptures were created – including eating habits and economy.
They found that the Nok people then grew pearl millet, yam and used different species of plants in their diet. The researchers further hope that “chemical analysis” would help them get insights into food preparations.
“The visible and invisible remains of food preparation in the archaeological sediment and the pottery give us a much more complete picture of past eating habits. This new evidence suggests a significant time depth in West African cuisine,” explains Archaeobotanist Dr Alexa Hohn from Goethe University.
About Somdatta SahaExplorer- this is what Somdatta likes to call herself. Be it in terms of food, people or places, all she craves for is to know the unknown. A simple aglio olio pasta or daal-chawal and a good movie can make her day.
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