
Why Do So Many People Think They Need Gluten-Free Foods? - curtis
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/02/gluten_free_diet_distinguishing_celiac_disease_wheat_allergy_and_gluten.html
======
lotides
My son is extremely allergic to wheat and milk. We have to carry an epi-pen
with us everywhere. He swells up, including his face and throat, when he comes
in contact with these allergens. It's cost us thousands of dollars in hospital
bills, missed work and is a constant worry. If people eat something, don't
wash their hands and then touch him, he'll get a bad rash. Most gluten free
food is free of wheat and some of that is free of dairy too. I'm thankful for
the gluten free trend. Without it, my son wouldn't have much of a chance to
eat many common foods. You wouldn't believe some of the things they put wheat
in, sometimes for seemingly no reason at all. He can't even play with play
dough. So I'll continue to pay 5x as much for a loaf of gluten-free bread
because it gives my son a more normal life.

~~~
jonnathanson
+1

I'm gluten-free by medical necessity, though not nearly as bad as what is
unfortunately afflicting your son. And gluten-free products are a) expensive,
b) still pretty rare, and c) unlikely to be found outside of specialized
sections in large supermarkets or online retailers.

If nothing else, gluten-free faddism creates market forces that increase the
availability of gluten-free options while simultaneously reducing their
(substantial!) cost. So in that sense, it has some positive externalities.

For example, you can actually get a gluten-free option on most airplane
flights these days. That certainly wasn't the case 5 years ago (or at least it
wasn't unless you went out of your way to arrange something).

Conversely, the one real danger is that a lot of products are coming to market
very quickly, and not all of them are as gluten-free or wheat-safe as they
claim. (For instance, a product not made with wheat, but processed in the same
factory as wheat products, can get away with calling itself "gluten free," and
you need to read the very, very fine print on the package to figure this out).
The labeling standards need to catch up to the marketing.

~~~
VLM
"And gluten-free products are a) expensive, b) still pretty rare, and c)
unlikely to be found outside of specialized sections"

Not true. Our whole family has been on the diet for a decade or so for medical
necessity of our son. Yes if you "demand" something like gluten containing
junk food its terribly expensive and frankly doesn't taste very good, usually.
But a perfectly "normal" GF lifestyle isn't any more difficult or expensive
than a G lifestyle.

Grilled chicken caesar salad with homemade tasty dressing... just hold the
crutons.

Traditional steak dinner with all the fixings, just don't marinate in soy
sauce based marinades and don't serve garlic bread on the side.

Beef pot roast with all the fixings except dinner rolls.

Meatloaf just use rice as a binder instead of wheat flour and thicken the
gravy with off the shelf cornstarch instead of wheat flour.

For obvious "bun" reasons we tend to cook a heck of a lot more kebobs than
burgers and brats. He have had cornbread burger buns and they're not as bad as
they might sound... after all corn torilla and seasoned meat is not unheard
of, so cornbread and somewhat less seasoned meat is pretty good too.

Lime garlic marinated chicken stir fried

Snack time tends a lot more toward corn chips and salsa or sliced up fruit
than toward cookies and cake slices.

You'd be amazed what can be done with cornbread and cornbread batter, but you
have to make your own from cornmeal, the mixes in the store use flour as a
binder. No problemo homemade is about 1/2 the cost of boxed mix anyway.

I don't like eggs, but obviously for breakfast we do a lot more bacon -n- eggs
than bacon -n- pancakes.

I do agree that for social reasons a GF cake costing $10 and tasting like
instant potatoes and crunchy rice is kinda ridiculous. So unless there's
intense social pressure we don't buy the "GF-products" and stick to naturally
GF food instead. Very little baby spinach contains wheat, for example.

~~~
jonnathanson
All of this is fair and well stated. But:

 _"Yes if you "demand" something like gluten containing junk food its terribly
expensive and frankly doesn't taste very good, usually."_

I'm not talking about junk food, per se. For someone who's on the road
constantly, or works crazy hours, and doesn't often have time to cook or
prepare meals, packaged and restaurant foods are unfortunate necessities of
life.

Now, I'm fully aware that there are people who'd consider all such food, by
sheer virtue of being shelf-stable and packaged, to be junk food. And I try my
absolute hardest to avoid packaged foods in general. But I'm not looking for
gluten-free chips or donuts. I'm looking for gluten-free ready-to-eat meals,
or gluten-free microwave meals, or gluten-free options on restaurant menus, or
gluten-free breakfast bars, or gluten-free breads, etc. All of these things
have become much more available in the last half-decade than they've been in
my entire life preceding it.

~~~
VLM
Well... OK. You mention the expensive costs dropping with popularity, then
when I point out a plate of fried eggs and bacon for breakfast at the diner
has always been pretty cheap and nothing new, and they don't "need" GF
pancakes or GF toast to serve naturally GF food, you turn it around and make
it an availability argument instead...

As for ready to eat meals and such we've done "ok" with gourmet (aka non-
noodle) soups and innumerable granola bars. Also sometimes you just have to
try something else. Can't buy GF granola bars at this particular store today?
Guess you're having (certain) trail mixes.

GF microwave meals sounds interesting. I'm guessing aside from specialty GF
products, something rice based would be the best hope?

~~~
jonnathanson
_"You mention the expensive costs dropping with popularity, then when I point
out a plate of fried eggs and bacon for breakfast at the diner has always been
pretty cheap and nothing new, and they don't "need" GF pancakes or GF toast to
serve naturally GF food, you turn it around and make it an availability
argument instead..."_

The availability issue was part of my original post, as well (viz., my points
"b" and "c"). You assumed I was talking about junk food, and I had to
elaborate my position in response. That's a clarification, not a topical
shift.

For what it's worth, I totally concede your point about produce and meat. To
the extent that you believe that such things invalidate my point altogether,
well, that's where I needed to add clarity.

------
chez17
>According to USA Today, up to one-quarter of all consumers now want gluten-
free food, even though only one person in 100 has celiac disease

It's almost like people cook for the ones they love!

I've been eating gluten free for months now for exclusively medical reasons. I
was having crippling stomach pains and nausea. Marijuana was a gift from the
gods for the nausea but nothing stopped the stomach pain. My mother talked to
a friend about my symptoms and that friend said it sounded similar to someone
she knew. That lead to a recommendation to try going gluten free. After two
weeks the pain and the nausea were gone, almost completely, and I'm still
having some other GI issues that are being addressed. I don't think I am
'intolerant' to gluten, I think there is something wrong with my gut and
avoiding gluten seems to be helping for now. Yes, it's becoming a fad, and
it's sad that people just dismiss it simply because of that. Look at some of
the comments here, it seems people get _angry_ over it. However, it's been
life changing for me, literally. I hope to eat wheat again when all my issues
are sorted out, but it's really helped me for the time being.

~~~
saidajigumi
The latest research on this front really doesn't do much "blaming the victim",
which seems to be the default mindset when someone avoids a food or food
ingredient. IMO, it's almost certainly not "something wrong with your gut",
but rather your gut is ill due to long-term assault from poor external inputs.
Eventually nearly everyone gets unlucky. The lucky ones just mistake a
"disease of civilization" for a "geriatric condition".

Gluten, gliadins, and lectins, present in wheat and other grains, basically
amount to plant defensive chemicals. For many people, consumption of these
plays a strong role eventually has various deleterious effects which. The
impacts are complex, to say the least, and a matter of ongoing research.
However, the basis of treatment is straightforward: eliminate _everything_
with grain. Gluten isn't enough, especially if you have severe GI damage. You
may find it helpful to check out resources and books on the "paleo diet" as
regards restructuring your eating this way.

------
leejoramo
My wife spent years dealing with Gluten intolerance. Usually she would suffer
sever stomach pain followed by diarrhea. But it was not a consistent problem.
Sometimes she would accidentally get wheat and be ok. Additionally, she could
eat other non-wheat whole grains which Celiacs and other Gluten intolerant
people can't handle.

Finally, we seem to have found the problem. Additives to flour especially
bromated flour. We have conducted our own tests and if she has even small
amounts of bromated flour, she reacts. But if we grind our own wheat or use a
brand such as King Arthur that has no additives, she never has a problem. (As
a nurse, she finds medical research interesting)

We now make our own bread and other flour based foods, but when we eat out,
she continues to order gluten free.

We have tried to find any formal medical studies on this. There is plenty of
talk about bromated flour being carcinogenic and prohibited in much of Europe
and Canada. But very little about people with immediate reactions too it. We
wonder if this is the source of many people's gluten issues.

edit: grammar

~~~
leejoramo
I should add, that we did do some blind tests. I would not claim anything
close to a formal study, but enough for a science minded couple to feel it was
good for our needs.

------
javert
I have gotten really sick (to the point of being hospitalized) and I can
basically tell it's related to bread in some way (very strong correlation
suggests causation). No doctor has been able to help me at all (this is in the
US). In one case, the doctor actually had to go look up "celiac diesase"
(hadn't heard of it). Another told me it was just from drinking too much
coffee and soda. But my symptoms go away completely and I feel fine when I
totally avoid anything that might have bread (and still drink tons of coffee).

This article is probably the most helpful thing I've ever found - I have never
been able to figure this out from Wikipedia. And I'll probably be bringing it
with me if I ever try again to get help from the medical system.

Years ago my personal Wikipedia research lead me to conclude that there were
no helpful tests to find out what I have. People have been telling me for
years that I'm wrong. I actually started to believe it - maybe I
misunderstood, or Wikipedia was wrong. Well, it looks like maybe I was right.

If anybody with medical experience can comment on the accuracy of this
article, that would be great.

It has also been suggested to me that I may have a "yeast allergy" (by a
traveller from Europe), so if anyone has any insight into that...

EDIT: To be clear, I pretty much ruled out celiac long ago, because my
symptoms are not _that_ serious. I either have wheat allergy, gluten
intolerance (most likely), or something simply not listed in this article. The
great value of this article to me is that it lists several possible problems
and clarifies what tests are and are not available. In other words, it does
for me exactly what a physician should have done for me years ago.

~~~
chrisa
I was referred to a gastroenterologist and had an upper endoscopy which was
helpful. They can look at the cilia to see if they're damaged in a way
consistent with celiac or something else.

It sounds like you already have done this, but there is a diet where you cut
out everything that might be causing the issue, and then add things back one
at a time. It can take weeks for celiac to feel better after removing wheat
however, so the diet method can be a long, laborious route to take.

~~~
VLM
"It can take weeks for celiac to feel better after removing wheat however,"

My experience with my son is yes it takes awhile for the absolute value to
reach "I feel great" but the 1st derivative swung hard positive permanently
and obviously in just a couple days. Curious if that's your experience? Like
it takes weeks to reach 100 on a scale of 1 to 100, but in just a couple days
you could tell it was clearly up an upswing. It might be easier with little
kids "oh look he only threw up 7 times today instead of his usual 10 and the
number seems to be going down every day..." Then too there is the
stereotypical "kids heal faster" mythology etc etc.

~~~
chrisa
It turned out the main culprit for me was dairy, not celiac (though it was a
confusing road to get to that diagnosis), so I only know second hand. I have a
friend with celiac who said it took a month "to feel good again", but that may
have been "to feel great again" like you mention.

------
mipapage
Drop gluten for 3 weeks; do you feel better? Feel bad when you get back on it?
Problem solved, really. Until science supports our observations, I don't need
much more proof than that.

~~~
zwieback
Your reply perfectly sums up why anti-gluten and other food crazes
periodically sweep through our culture: science's job isn't to support peoples
self-observation and that observation does not prove gluten intolerance.

The gluten-free + gluten/placebo experiment could show whether someone is
gluten intolerant or not, until then the approach you mention is
indistinguishable from superstition.

~~~
jellicle
For an individual, it doesn't matter whether the effect is placebo or not;
it's real to the individual.

If standing on tiptoes and spinning around three times each morning makes you
feel better, _you should do it_.

It's only for determining what sorts of interventions we should use for a
larger population that we care about whether the effect is placebo or not.

------
aaronbrethorst
"Why Do So Many People Think They Need Gluten-Free Foods?"

Because when I eat it I feel bloated and nauseous. When I don't, I feel fine.
Q.E.D. I talked about this a little bit the last time it came up[1].

The problem occurs when I eat barley, rye, wheat, and other grains that
contain it. So, it's definitely not a wheat allergy. My symptoms aren't as
severe as those that celiacs suffer from, thankfully.

Last year, after I thought I knew what was causing the problem, I tried eating
some bread after my symptoms had all gone away. They came back within a couple
hours. Going back to a strict gluten free diet solved the problem again.

[1] <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5277765>

~~~
VLM
You can also test this by trying foods that you wouldn't assume contain wheat,
but they certainly do.

How bout beer, (most) licorice, soy sauce, and (most) taco seasoned meat? That
should make you sick too. It made my son sick... well, not the beer; he was
just a toddler at diagnosis. But yeah, eat Chinese and throw up for 3
continuous days, even though "fried rice doesn't contain wheat, does it?",
well, yeah, it does, in the soy sauce, that kind of thing.

~~~
aaronbrethorst
> How bout beer

Yep, tragically.

> (most) licorice

Yes again.

> soy sauce

Definitely. Thank god for tamari.

> and (most) taco seasoned meat?

Dunno, I don't eat beef.

~~~
VLM
"and (most) taco seasoned meat? Dunno, I don't eat beef."

I assure you that well over 50% of the package mixes in stores use wheat flour
as a thickener. If you're careful enough to read the packages you can find
SOME that use cornstarch as a thickener. Then again why pay $1.50 for an
envelope when I can premake ten homemade taco seasoning mixes to my own
precise flavor profile for the same price... all this "GF is expensive" is
kinda off base.

You might not eat beef but I bet a light dusting of taco seasoning would taste
pretty good on fried zucchini slices and perhaps other veg if thats your
thing. I bet taco seasoning powder would spice up steamed broccoli pretty
well.

------
nazgulnarsil
Low carb diets became popular with the plebs, so a crypto low-carb diet is
needed.

~~~
jonnathanson
Actually, independent of the whole low-carb craze, there's some evidence
indicating that, as carbs go, wheat is a particularly bad one. Substantially
worse than corn, rice, root vegetables, and other sources of starch.

People have definitely conflated the wheat gluten allergy issue (celiac
disease and other forms) with low-carb dieting in general, which is misguided.
As the article points out, the percentage of the population actually suffering
from allergies to gluten is tiny. [1] But it may not be a bad idea to cut down
on wheat, regardless. Especially products with highly processed wheat as a key
ingredient.

[1] Although it may be growing, for reasons not currently understood.
Alternatively, we may just be experiencing a boom in the diagnosis -- either a
result of over-diagnosing, or rather, correct diagnoses after many decades of
under-diagnosing.

~~~
nnq
> Substantially worse than corn, rice, root vegetables, and other sources of
> starch.

...can you share the source for this information?

------
xemoka
This is a pretty poor article. It does not provide any counter points or
reference anything in the other camp. The article skirts any knowledge about
who is evangelizing the wheat free movement (William Davis [1] wrote an
excellent book, Wheat Belly [2] about this exact phenomenon) and why.

It's anecdotal, yes, as is most scientific research early on when there may be
a lot of competing arguments. Dr. Davis clearly outlines why he feels that
wheat is a problem in our current society (mainly due to the changes in
amylopectin in modern wheat, as well as other protein changes that are not
present in ancestors to modern wheat). It's worth a read if you want to know
more, it is anecdotal but there sure is a lot of anecdotes and empirical
evidence, and it's fleshed out quite thoroughly in his book [2].

It seems that anything in our diets that is in over abundance seems to cause
us problems, be it wheat or soy. Both of which are in almost everything we eat
today, and both of which have undergone some serious changes in the last 40-80
years.

[1] <http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/about-the-author/> [2]
[http://www.amazon.com/Wheat-Belly-William-
Davis/dp/144341273...](http://www.amazon.com/Wheat-Belly-William-
Davis/dp/1443412732?tag=613240924-20)

~~~
zwieback
Counter point to what? The article mentions that a lot of people that don't
have celiac disease avoid gluten and out of those 1/3 actually find some
relief from a gluten-free diet.

I didn't feel the author was taking sides.

~~~
xemoka
Perhaps you're right. It just seems a little underdeveloped in my opinion.
There's a lot of talk around wheat's effects and this article could have
included more information.

When authors make links to celebrities jumping on board I often end up not
thinking very highly of what the celebrities are supporting. Particularly when
the previous sentence is purporting gluten-free to be a 'fad'.

I guess in the end, it's not truly a poor article, it just does not go into as
much depth as a feel it could have. I suppose it's all about the audience, and
I am not the target audience for this article.

------
emehrkay
I make my own "wheat meat" which is 99% wheat gluten. It's delicious, fun, and
interesting. If you arent one of those people who care or cant handle it, I
suggest trying it out. There are plenty of recipes online, you'll just need
about an hour

~~~
xemoka
For those looking for more information on this "wheat meat", searching for
"seitan" will provide.

------
dmschulman
Clearly it has nothing to do with people's evolving eating habits and new
found rejection of processed carbohydrate-rich flour based foods.

Clearly.

I also understand in the article the author focused on Celiacs vs diagnosed
but-not-really Celiacs, but the author should really expand his thesis. You
might not even have a medical condition but would still choose to reject white
bread, Twinkies, crackers, pizza, etc.

~~~
autarch
Rejecting white flour is not the same thing as claiming you cannot tolerate
any gluten whatsoever.

~~~
stcredzero
Yes, but for many it may be a obfuscated way of rejecting white flour.

------
maqr
After recently relocating to San Francisco, I'm concerned that I'm not getting
enough gluten.

------
shawndumas
My son, who is deathly allergic (anaphylactically allergic) to peanut-butter,
had a blood test to see if he might have grown out of it (he hasn't; poor
kid).

The doctor also order the blood test to screen for specific allergy-causing
antibodies to various common allergens, including wheat proteins.

It turns out that his blood had a reaction to albumin (or maybe it was
globulin; I can't remember). The Doctor called it a 'wheat allergy' and went
on about diarrhea. And Mom and I thought he was just trying to avoid doing the
dishes when he'd bolt to the bathroom right after eating: Go figure...

We just look for gluten free because if there is no gluten there is none of
the other 4 proteins found in wheat.

------
rmm
Went gluten-free for a month back in 2010, haven't looked back since. I didn't
need to lose weight (although it's a nice side effect) but my psoriasis
cleared up completely.

The tests for gluten intolerance are notoriously inaccurate. They test for
antibodies for gluten in the bloodstream, and this only occurs when you have
serious gut permeability.

Self experimentation is the way to go with this until the research catches up.
Try it for a month, and see how you feel.

Also I don't see this the problem with a self-diagnosis being wrong. It's not
as if by eating gluten-free you are directly harming your body.

------
jinushaun
For me at least, the health benefits of ditching gluten is quite apparent very
quickly (3 weeks). You don't realise how bad you feel eating gluten until you
stop. Everyone just starts taking daily stomach aches, bloating, heartburn,
indigestion and 2pm food fatigue for granted. They think that's just the way
it is. It's not.

That said, I still love bread, but now only eat it sparingly.

~~~
chris_mahan
When you find blood in your stool, you realize it won't 'just go away'.

------
conradfr
First time I learned about gluten or gluten-free diet was when I researched
links between ADHD and food, and didn't give it much thought.

Then I read on HN about Taubes and then keto, which led me to /r/keto and I
tried it for fun (for science !) for two months (I don't need to lose weight).
I did feel A LOT better and lost 2 Kg (which isn't much but I'm 1m76 for 62
Kg).

Improvements were : \- no more sleepiness during the day. I had suffered about
this since forever. \- less headaches (and nauseas). \- less belly bloating (I
always thought it was normal) \- (slightly) better sleep.

Since then I eat an egg & bacon for breakfast, and eat a lot less bread and
pasta (and carbs). I miss baguette (I'm French) but I feel great overall.

I guess it's just +1 for anecdotal evidence ! :)

------
intopieces
A lot of the anti-gluten sentiment semight be rooted in the need for a quick
fix to dieting issues. The idea being 'if I just cut out this one thing, all
of my belly fat will go away.' People (myself included) hate the idea that
dieting is a change of lifestyle, that you can't just slash one thing for a
few months and call it a day. I think the challenge should be: no processed
foods for a month. None whatsoever. Then see how you feel. But because we've
mostly decided that our budget should go to everything else besides good food,
that's a difficult task indeed.

~~~
Bjuukia
What do you consider processed food? In other words, could you give a one-day
meal sample?

------
cpursley
All I know is my energy is more level throughout the day and my thoughts are
much clearer. I now know I never actually had 'ADD' in grade school - I had
'Captain Crunch' - thanks mom.

I don't care much for 'gluten free' replacement product hype. Just eat normal
food - avoid the wheat.

------
Shorel
Answer: because these people think that gluten will slowly change gut lining
and immune response to the point that they will develop celiac disease or
other illness if they eat gluten regularly.

------
sbhere
According to my local celiac authority: "because the atkins diet and south
beach diet went out of style"

~~~
Shorel
The induction phase of Atkins is pretty much alive with the name of
Keto(genic) diet.

------
chris_mahan
My doctor told me to. Been wheat-free for 4 months, and feeling much better.
Also, caffeine-free.

~~~
jpdoctor
> _Also, caffeine-free._

You had me going until you wrote that.

~~~
chris_mahan
You should try it. Headaches last a week, then it's all good. I sleep much,
much better, and my mood is better. Plus, I drink no sodas, tea, or coffee, so
I am saving several dollars per day. It adds up.

------
ahoyhere
Americans don't ferment or even soak their grains, which the Weston A Price
foundation (and many others) believe is one of the reasons Americans have so
much discomfort/illness to do with grains:

[http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/living-with-
phytic...](http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/living-with-phytic-acid)

Soaking and fermentation change the digestibility by altering the structure of
the grain, and eliminating enzymes that have potentially painful side effects.

------
Spooky23
Wheat has been a key part of human diet for something like 10,000 years. The
gluten crisis has been with us for 3-4.

It's an ideal chronic condition for the 99% of suburbanites not affected by
celiac disease who need something to complain about, conspicuously spend money
on and attract attention. It sounds serious, onerous to deal with, and has no
stigma attached to it.

When people actually "stop eating gluten", they buy really bad bread for $8 a
loaf. They also stop eating food like pizza, a variety of processed foods, ice
cream, etc. So they lose weight and "feel better".

~~~
VLM
"Wheat has been a key part of human diet for something like 10,000 years."

Thats an interesting anthropological question. That is almost certainly wrong
for almost anyone other than descendants of certain rather small cultural
areas. I've always found it interesting how some Roman Empire products like
wheat are still very popular while others like garum are not so popular. It
might have something to do with garum being really gross and donuts and bread
being yummy.

None the less its humorous how narrow minded anthropologically some people
are. All of us, and I mean ALL, only have ancestors who lived in Switzerland
and drank cow milk and lived in southern Italy and ate bread and pasta and no
other cultures nor their descendants exist, just us Europeans...

I genetically resemble that culturally imperialistic outlook on history, but I
sometimes wonder just how many generations you'd have to go back on my wife's
side to find a nation where basically no one drank milk or ate wheat, or at
most it was a weird and unusual snack. I'm thinking only about 3 generations.
And now hundreds of pounds of that weird stuff getting shoved down the throat
per year, that's gotta be a shock to the carefully evolved gut. Go back 200
years and tell my wife's ancestors that my wife would be expected to consume
hundreds of pounds of cow milk products per year, and those ancestors would
likely be all "uh, and WTF is a dairy cow?" No 10K years necessary. In fact if
you told my parents that I'd be expected to eat 20 pounds of soy per year,
they'd sound about the same "uh, and WTF is a soybean?" Its just not part of
my ancestry, even my very recent ancestry. In fact I'm almost 100% certain my
grandma would have had no idea what a soybean was, and now they're shoved down
my throat.

Finally ask any biologist, you've gotta go way the heck further back in
history that 10K years to find a common biological ancestor who primarily ate
grains (like a proto man-cow, I guess). If a space alien landed, after it got
tired of sticking probes in the rears of hillbillies and reading the funny
resulting tabloid stories, then the alien started dissecting earth animals,
looking at our innards it would probably be pretty surprised to discover we
like to tell ourselves we're supposed to be grain eaters. Why those idiots are
obviously evolved to eat fruits and nuts and meats, WTF are those idiot
earthlings doing eating cow-food like grains?

~~~
Spooky23
I don't know where your wife is from, but wheat originated in the Fertile
Crescent, and was a driving force behind urbanization and the formation of
city-states. A substantial number of people and cultures in turn spun out of
there. If you are not of Sub-Sahara African descent, you have ancestors from
there. In Africa, there were very limited grain crops available... Mostly
sourgum and millet iirc.

Just about any northern hemisphere agricultural society relied upon grains.
They were (and to some extent, still are) essential to society advancing to
the point that people can specialize in things other than gathering food.

