Finding a place to build an open fire is next to impossible in
New York City, but it’s a must if you want to bake prehistoric
bread. Bread, in all its various forms, is the most widely
consumed food in the world. Recent scholarship suggests that
humans started baking bread at least 30,000 years ago.
Prehistoric man had already been making gruel from water and
grains, so it was a small jump to cook this mixture into a solid
by frying it on stones. The National Academy of Sciences
published a study that paleoanthropologists have found the
remains of the starchy roots of cattails and ferns in mortar and
pestle-like rocks (read about it here and here.) The roots would
have been peeled and dried before they were ground into flour
and mixed with water. Finally, the paste would be fried on
heated rocks. If you feel inspired to replicate this prehistoric
recipe–like I was– I’ll warn you that Bob’s Red Mill does not
make a “Cattail/Fern Blend Flour” (yet). Settle for a “10 Grain
Breakfast Cereal” full of ancient grain