Music has a strange and powerful way of bringing back our bygone days. The song Greenfields (by the Brothers Four, 1960) reminds me of the wheat fields of summer in Penn, England.
In 2008, after speaking in the Royal Society of Medicine, I headed for my buddy’s place to spend a few days. I always visit him when I am in the UK. We spent our schoolboy days together and have kept in touch ever since. And boy, are we nostalgic nuts – we enjoy reliving happy days of yesteryears!
One of the delights of a visit to Penn is a long walk in the nearby green fields. Depending on the season, the farmers planted different crops. I love the warmth of summer, the tranquility of wheatfields, and the beer (bitter) at the local pub at the end of the walk. I like the variety of tasty bread, especially the ciabatta loaf in the village bakery.
Wheat and bread captured my imagination – from where did they come? Archaeologists found evidence that the origin of wheat was about 10,000 years ago, in southeast Turkey around the Karacadag mountain. This period is significant – it marked the transition between humans as hunter-gatherers and farmers. The Egyptians grew wheat about 9500 years ago, turned them into flour, and made the first leavened bread.
Wheat is a type of versatile grass. It can easily be ground into flour and made into staple food like bread, biscuits, pastries. It can be cultivated in different climates and stored for an extended period. Wheat is an astoundingly successful grain. The world grows around 760 million tons to feed its hungry people.
I am a beer drinker. I prefer beer to all other alcoholic beverages. And my favourite beer? Wheat beer or Weissbier (white beer). Wheat beer contains at least 50% wheat: barley malt ratio. I look forward to my wheat beer whenever I visit my daughter and her family in Austria. No surprise, Weissbier is much more widely available and cheaper in beer-guzzling communities in Europe.
Travel, food, drinks, people, and reminiscence – enjoy them!
Vince
Dr Vincent Chong is a retired Professor of Radiology at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore.
