The Scarcity of Meat in Agricultural Societies Around the time that our ancestors domesticated animals, they also began to cultivate a number of grasses, plants that grow in extensive stands and produce large numbers of nutritious seeds This was the beginning of agriculture With the arrival of domesticated barley and wheat, rice and maize, nomadic peoples settled down to farm the land and produce food, populations boomed — and most people ate very little meat Grain crops are simply a far more efficient form of nourishment than animals grazing on the same land, so meat became relatively expensive, a luxury reserved for the rulers From the prehistoric invention of agriculture to the Industrial Revolution, the great majority of people on the planet lived on cereal gruels and breads Beginning with Europe and the Americas in the 19th century, industrialization has generally made meat less expensive and more widely available thanks to the development of managed pastures and formulated feeds, the intensive breeding of animals for efficient meat production, and improved transportation from farms to cities But in less developed parts of the world, meat is still a luxury reserved for the wealthy few Food Words: Meat The English word meat has not always meant animal flesh, and its evolution indicates a shift in the eating habits of English-speaking people In the Oxford English Dictionary’s first citation for meat, from the year 900, the word meant solid food in general, in contrast to drink A vestige of this sense survives today in the habit of referring to the meat of nuts It wasn’t until 1300 that meat was used for the flesh of animals, and not until even later that this definition displaced the earlier one as animal flesh became preeminent in the English diet, in ... today in the habit of referring to the meat of nuts It wasn’t until 1300 that meat was used for the flesh of animals, and not until even later that this definition displaced the earlier one as... eating habits of English-speaking people In the Oxford English Dictionary’s first citation for meat, from the year 900, the word meant solid food in general, in contrast to drink A vestige of this...to the development of managed pastures and formulated feeds, the intensive breeding of animals for efficient meat production, and improved transportation from farms to cities