Raymond Cooper
Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
Title: Discovering Ancient Wheat Varieties as Functional Foods
Biography
Biography: Raymond Cooper
Abstract
With the gluten-free food market worth almost $3.6bn in 2016, there is every reason for renewed interest in ancient grains. This resurgent interest is expressed in re-discovering ancient varieties as functional foods. In particular, people affected by celiac disease have to avoid all gluten in their diet and several ancient grains may offer an important alternative.
Ancient grains include chia, a forgotten food of the ancient Aztecs; quinoa which originated in the Andean region of Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru; triticum (wheat), in the form of einkorn, known today as farro in Italy, as a type of awned wheat and one of the first crops domesticated in the Near East. Other grains, acknowledged as gluten-free ancient grains are amaranth, eaten in Mexico since the time of the Aztecs; quinoa, sorghum, millet; and teff, the main ingredient in the stable fermented flatbread, injera, in Ethiopia. A description of modern wheat is presented together with each one of the above mentioned grains-