There was no coffee until around thirteen hundred or so when it began to be
brought back from the East by crusaders and come in along the silk
road. It really did not catch on until the early seventeen
hundreds. There is a book called The Coffee Trader about its beginnings
and the beginnings of the modern stock exchange. I do not believe we have
it on bookshare.
The potato is also relatively new. It was brought back from North America
(along with yams and squash) by the explorers to feed poor people. It is
easier to grow than grain and provides more protein per acre. More protein
means fewer people starved in Europe during winters and fewer died at an
early age from diseases brought on by malnutrition. Remember folks died of
famine in Britain and France in the fifteen hundreds.
There are those who think the industrial revolution was possible because
folks lived longer and had better nutrition. And all because of potatoes
and one suspects coffee.
E.
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