C. W. Wrigley, Food Science Australia and Wheat CRC, North Ryde (Sydney), NSW, Australia
WHEAT: Chemistry and Technology, Fourth Edition
Pages 1-17
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1094/9781891127557.001
ISBN: 978-1-891127-55-7
Abstract
Wheat is unique. Of all the seeds in the plant kingdom, the wheat grain alone has the gluten proteins capable of forming the fully elastic dough required to bake leavened bread. These gluten proteins are also needed to make the great variety of foods that are associated with wheat around the world. This unique property is the reason why about 1014 wheat plants are grown annually on all continents (except Antarctica), producing well over 600 million tonnes (metric tons, t) of grain (Table 1.1) from about 220 million hectares (ha), with an average yield of nearly 3 t/ha. Worldwide, this level of wheat production is equivalent to nearly 300 g of grain per person per day. However, in practice, this theoretical estimate is meaningless, since the regions of wheat production differ from the populations in need of the grain. Furthermore, although human food is the main use of wheat, a significant proportion also goes to animal feed and to industrial uses.
Wheat and bread are integral to human life as well as to human food. Wheat and bread have entered our vocabulary as symbols of food and of social interaction. It is an Eastern European custom to offer a loaf of bread as a symbol of welcome to a guest. Biblical mentions of wheat and bread, such as “Man shall not live by bread alone,” “Cast thy bread upon the waters,” and “Give us this day our daily bread” have entered common usage. The motto of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization is “Fiat panis,” meaning “Let there be bread.” On the other hand, hunger has traditionally been depicted as the absence of wheat and bread. The dilemma of the world's “have-nots” is depicted graphically on an old German platter by wheat heads and slices of bread and the words “Altes Brot ist nicht hart - kein Brot, das ist hart!” (“Old bread is not hard—no bread, that is hard”) (Fig. 1.1).
