Other Plants

[RobinFinderson]

Wheat is for man! Or so the scriptures say. That scripture launched one of Mormonism's more endearing quirks -- not only were food storage shelves stocked with all kinds of canned goods, they often included barrels of raw wheat! In our home we had an electric grinder that we would use to mill wheat flour, and we would bake the best wheat bread once a week. Peanut Butter and Honey on home-baked wheat bread was a school lunch staple. Throughout the 70's, the whole wheat thing made Mormons an odd cultural ally with some crunchy granola types, and the little funny smelling 'health food stores' would be full of Mormons and hippies. My mom gave us a hand-cranked wheat grinder as a wedding gift. Sometimes we use it to make rye flour.

But as good and nice as these memories might be, there sure are a lot of people with wheat allergies. Also, much of the rest of the world does pretty well without wheat, and now there are new super-grains, like quinoa, that are genuinely tasty, though I can't tell if their surge in popularity is because of their actual health benefits, or because it is just something for the culture movers to talk about at dinner parties.

So, do what do you think that Joseph Smith was trying to say when he expounded that 'wheat is for man?' Was he stating the obvious, that wheat is a damn useful crop, or was he making some special point about wheat compared to other plants?

[Lost Student]

Good post, grape.