Zea is a
Greek bread
Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...
made from
farro or "zea," as it is known in Greek.
The bread is generally chewy and lightweight, with higher dietary fiber content than
wheat bread
Brown bread is bread made with significant amounts of whole grain flour, usually wheat, and sometimes dark-coloured ingredients such as molasses or coffee. In Canada, Ireland and South Africa, it is whole wheat bread; in the Maritimes and New En ...
.
History
The grain is thought to have an
ancient, if not
prehistoric
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...
, history in the region. Excavations have found farro grains at prehistoric sites, including in a 12,000 year old
Anatolian site.
Furthermore, classical texts reference a grain called "zea" or "zeia."
Homer used the word Greek word ''zeidoron'' (''ζείδωρον),'' which comes from "zea," to mean "life-giving" in
the Iliad. He wrote that unripe zea were fed to horses in the
Odyssey.
Herodotus wrote that the
ancient Egyptians preferred zea to
wheat or
barley in
Histories
Histories or, in Latin, Historiae may refer to:
* the plural of history
* ''Histories'' (Herodotus), by Herodotus
* ''The Histories'', by Timaeus
* ''The Histories'' (Polybius), by Polybius
* ''Histories'' by Gaius Sallustius Crispus (Sallust), ...
.
Dioscorides wrote that Greeks and Romans prepared krimnon, made from ground zea and wheat berries, to make poltos, a porridge-like drink. According to legend,
Alexander the Great consumed zea bread to maintain his strength. The medieval harbor at
Piraeus, which was named Zea Marina, was potentially named after the grain.
Despite its probable popularity in ancient times, zea was most likely replaced by barley in the classical period. Eventually,
durum and wheat became the predominant forms of bread. In Greece, there is an
urban legend that zea bread was banned in the 1930s, so that the wheat market would not suffer. However, the reality may have been that wheat was easier to produce, so there was little incentive to be a zea farmer.
For many years, zea bread was largely neglected. The closest version to zea food culture was farro in
Italy.
In recent years, there has been a revival of zea bread in Greece.
While some zea farms existed since the twentieth century, most launched in the early twenty-first century. The majority of these farms use the Italian farro seed, known as "Dikokko Sitari" in Greek. However, some farms use the old grain from historic Greece.
There are famous bakeries in
Athens, which are known for their zea bread.
In addition, Greek recipes sometimes call for zea flour as ingredients.
References
{{Greek breads
Greek cuisine
Greek breads