Beyond the Wheat

In many ways, no other food represents the center of culinary and communal life more than bread. It is likely the most consumed food in the world, but as it has been a staple food over the millenia, when we think of "bread", the images that come to mind are as diverse as the cultures of the world. Though it is a staple of just about every culture on earth, the contents of the bread we eat have become wildly disconnected to the grains of our ancestors. Today on Point of Origin we're looking at why that is, and how it came to be. 

In this episode we examine the whitewashing of wheat and the emergence of the whole grain revival. Our guests are a smattering of whole grain bakers, farmers and scholars from around the world. We begin in Oaxaca with Mixtecan bakery owner Martina Julieta Castellanos Lopez from Rincón de la Grana bakery, then we move to Nova Scotia Canada where food writer, author and amateur whole grain baker Simon Thibault breaks down the industrial grains along with some home baking tips. In Puglia Italy, multigenerational grain farmer Leonardo Petruccelli and writer Marissia Tiller discuss the transformation of his family farm from into a whole grain enterprise, and finally, in Washington DC, Jonathan Bethony, baker and co-owner of Seylou Bakery talks about his whole grain journey as a baker. Today on point of origin, we're going Beyond Wheat. 

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