Amber Waves: The Extraordinary Biography of Wheat, from Wild Grass to World Megacrop

by Catherine Zabinski

A biography of a staple grain we often take for granted, exploring how wheat went from wild grass to a world-shaping crop.At breakfast tables and bakeries, we take for granted a grain that has made human civilization possible, a cereal whose humble origins belie its world-shaping wheat. Amber Waves tells the story of a group of grass species that first grew in scattered stands in the foothills of the Middle East until our ancestors discovered their value as a source of food. Over thousands of years, we moved their seeds to all but the polar regions of Earth, slowly cultivating what we now know as wheat, and in the process creating a world of cuisines that uses wheat seeds as a staple food. Wheat spread across the globe, but as ecologist Catherine Zabinski shows us, a biography of wheat is not only the story of how plants ensure their own from the earliest bread to the most mouthwatering pasta, it is also a story of human ingenuity in producing enough food for ourselves and our communities.Since the first harvest of the ancient grain, we have perfected our farming systems to grow massive quantities of food, producing one of our species’ global mega crops—but at a great cost to ecological systems. And despite our vast capacity to grow food, we face problems with undernourishment both close to home and around the world. Weaving together history, evolution, and ecology, Zabinski’s tale explores much more than the wild roots and rise of a now-ubiquitous it illuminates our complex relationship with our crops, both how we have transformed the plant species we use as food, and how our society—our culture—has changed in response to the need to secure food sources. From the origins of agriculture to gluten sensitivities, from our first selection of the largest seeds from wheat’s wild progenitors to the sequencing of the wheat genome and genetic engineering, Amber Waves sheds new light on how we grow the food that sustains so much human life.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, History, Food, Nature

254 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 1, 2020

Reviews

[R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good, quick, informative read. I think the author achieved her objective of providing a "biography" of wheat. But I think there's still a broader, more detailed story to be told.
First, a couple of nits - chapters one and two seemed to be a biology/evolution primer. That's not necessarily the way to grab a reader's attention if the reader is interested in wheat. And a couple of anecdotes were a bit overused (e.g., rich nobles using soft white bread to sop up juices from their meat-laden plates).
The descriptions of the migration of wheat across the world, the genetic makeup of wheat, Borlaug's work to improve wheat productivity/disease resistance in the 1970s, how gluten intolerance/wheat allergy works and efforts to create a perennial variety of wheat were all very interesting (and understandable).
In particular, I think Zabinski did a good job simplifying the descriptions of wheat genetics for the general user. My last biology class was several decades ago, but I was still able to understand the connections between modern wheat, einkorn, emmer and ancient wheatgrass.
As much as I liked the book, I think more can be done here. I've read a number of food-related books (Mark Kurlanski's The Big Oyster, Cod, Salt, as well as Steve Ettlinger's Twinkie Deconstructed, and several others). Amber Waves doesn't quite rise to their level (and to be fair, I don't think Zabinski intended it to), but the potential is there if an author were to take on the task. A short list of topics not fully explored in Amber Waves: how wheat has been ground/processed over time (there's a description of stone-based grinding tools in Mesopotamia, but not much after that), equipment & processes used to grow and ship wheat (there was a brief mention of combines and elevators, and a slightly longer description of plow-type tools, but that's it; what about $500k tractors, modern seed-drills, GPS-equipped fertilizer spreaders, etc.?), different cultural traditions regarding wheat-based foods (pasta v. raised bread v. flat bread, etc.), various food trends related to wheat (Graham flour/crackers/bread, wheat-based cold cereal, crackers/hardtack as a staple of military rations, etc.).
So - a good book and one I recommend; but I hope Kurlansky (or someone with his talents) grabs the plow handle and finishes the field.

[Martin Empson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this multi-million year history of wheat, from the evolution of the plant to the ways that human society have farmed and changed the crop over time. I did feel that there was a over emphasis on the genetic history of wheat, which reflects the author's belief that it is through historic and future manipulation of wheat genetics that we can deal with environmental challenges and food shortages. So, despite the authors detailed account of the links between human and wheat ecology, I felt the book wasn't quite sharp enough on the way in which questions of (eg) food shortages are also social. Nonetheless it was a riveting read. Full review to come.

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was OK, but didn't live up to the positivie reviews I had read of it. Definitely not as good as the similar books I've read about potatoes and tobacco.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amber waves is more and less than a history of wheat. There's a lot of general biology and plant biology that is not specific to wheat. I found much of the wheat-specific material had less detail than the basic plant material. A comparison of how different grains were domesticated would have been interesting, although also not just wheat specific. Nevertheless, I found the book interesting, even though I knew the general biology (I'm a biochemist).

[William T · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this book and can not recommend it. If you need to learn about wheat, and need to complete a general review of the "literature," I suppose you might include it. I didn't take notes but my guess is that half of the book is about side topics that an expert would have to know about, but a general reader already knows or doesn't care to know. Did I really have to go back over genetics in detail?

Wheat is big business and there are probably some pretty interesting stories about grain trading that might have spiced up this dull book. Cargill, the largest privately owned company in the world, and a grain trader, doesn't even make the index!

Read it if you must, but don't volunteer.

[Margery Osborne · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just can't with this book. did the author really have to explain how genes work over and over again? Did she really have to start with the pre-cambrian to describe wheat lineage? did I have to have the nitrogen cycle and photosynthesis explained to me? I'm not in middle school. Who is the audience for this book and (once again) I've got to ask have all the editors died or something? This book did not live up to the reviews I read. I'm very disappointed. I love Mark Kurlansky and other's books on similar topics and I had high hopes for this.

[Marlowe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Informative, if slightly disappointing. Would have preferred more wheat content, yet a good portion of the book is dedicated to describing general horticulture/biology concepts.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, scientifically dense book about wheat (explained so most people can understand the science). However, there was a lot of repetition in the book, almost like it was written as individual articles and then put together in book form. So be prepared to skip big chunks of the text for maximum enjoyment.

[RuBisCO Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fine book, but I think most of the book could be about almost any of our major agriculture crops. the writing is good, it's quick to get through but again kinda more generic than I had hoped for.

[Jubilado · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful account of the background of wheat giving the scientific, ecological and financial sides of the history of wheat. Beautifuly written with vignettes to lighten the mood.

[Jack Laschenski · Rating 4 out of 5]

HIghly biololgically technical.

Fascinating.

[Kent Gunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read.

Documentation was superb. Science dense with exhaustive explanations. I don't eat the stuff, (wheat), but how it made civilization possible was enlightening.