food and diet: Africa 441 tribute in food A consequence of this behavior in northern China were wars with tens of thousands of casualties, with China trying to keep the products of its farms while outsiders tried to cut through the Chinese armies to take grain and other food Deficiencies in food may have resulted in armed rebellions Both the Byzantine Empire and nations of the Islamic world took measures to assure that bread was always available to even the poorest of their people, knowing that starving people had nothing to lose by overthrowing governments or trying to loot royal granaries Among the theories for why the Maya of Mesoamerica shifted from a highly developed and ancient city-building culture with dense populations to a culture of scattered farming villages is that the Maya destroyed too much of their forest environment, resulting in a ecological catastrophe that severely reduced the protein from the wild animals they depended on to supplement their diet of maize, beans, and squash Malnutrition may have brought a crash in population and forced the abandonment of a social structure that could no longer feed its people Africa by Caryn E Neumann Africans in the medieval era ate many of the same foods that their ancient ancestors had dined upon Bananas, fish, sheep, goat, chickens, cattle, yams, millet, sorghum, and insect larvae were popular meal choices in the sub-Saharan area Africans supplemented their diets with wild animals Beer remained a common drink of choice Africans had not yet been influenced by foods from the American continent, and later dietary staples such as potatoes and tomatoes were unknown during the Middle Ages Nonetheless, the African diet had already been significantly influenced by trade Much of the African cuisine, including most of the domesticated animals, initially came from Asia or Egypt Sorghum is probably the most notable of the grain cereals native to Africa It is a good source of carbohydrates and provides some protein In one form or another, sorghum is grown all over Africa Sorghum bicolor, the most primitive form and probably the first sorghum to be cultivated, formed a major part of African diets in the medieval era Sorghum varieties are high in bitter-tasting tannin, and some possess more tannin than others The bicolor form is sweet sorghum and was often chewed for its sweet taste It also was eaten as porridge or used for bread Some sorghums with a high tannin content are selected for food because birds will be deterred from feeding on the grain, leaving a greater food supply for people The other sorghums proved better for beer making, since the high tannin levels removed the need to use hops Condiment tray, Egypt, ninth century (© The Trustees of the British Museum) Sorghum beer is a brownish-pink beverage with a fruity, sour taste Beer is an ancient beverage that probably originated both as a way to use grains before they spoiled and as a healthier drink than other available choices For much of recorded history water has been a source of parasites that kill or disable Milk, with pasteurization unknown until the mid-19th century, did not have a noticeably better safety record Therefore most Africans, including infants and nursing mothers, drank beer in the morning, noon, and night The boiling necessary to make beer neutralized most of tainted water’s ill effects, although no one realized this for centuries; the cereals added protein to the diet Sorghum beer, the prevalent African form of beer, was produced by women and contains an alcoholic content of 3.4 to percent It would have spoiled easily because hops were not used The active ingredient in hops, lupulin, inhibits the growth of certain types of fungi and bacteria Millet was second to sorghum as a popular grain cereal in the medieval era Like sorghum, it was used to make beer and would occasionally be combined with sorghum beer Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) generally was preferred to sorghum because it is a tastier cereal It also has one of the best nutritional profiles among cereals Pearl millet is found throughout sub-Saharan Africa Wild forms of finger millet (Eleusine coracana) occur in the highlands of eastern Africa Teff (Eragrostis tef) has the smallest seed of all the domesticated cereals and was used as the chief ingredient in a nutritious bread Digitaria or fonio millet (Digitaria exilis or fonio) is a highly palatable grain that was used for ceremonial occasions It was especially popular for couscous and has the additional advantage of being particularly resistant to drought When other foods were scarce, Africans could eat fonio millet