How rye spread from Turkey to other parts of the world remains unknown, but it is not unrealistic to assume that it was transported westwards from Turkey as a minor admixture in wheat. Pliny the Elder, a famous Roman author and naturalist, wrote that rye “is a very poor food and only serves to avert starvation“.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, rye became an important source of nutrients for agricultural peoples inhabiting Central and Eastern Europe. Compared to wheat, rye is more tolerant to dry and cool conditions and it can be grown in very acidic soils. It is however less tolerant to cold than barley.

Bread made from rye is still very popular in Central, Eastern and Northern Europe and is for instance used to make Nordic crisp-bread and the famous German pumpernickel bread. It is also used to produce Rye Vodka and Rye whiskey.

Henan cuisine can be described as similar to Jiangsu cuisine but with many cooking methods borrowed from Beijing cuisine. Just as in Jiangsu, ingredients are selected according to the four seasons. Generally speaking, the food is soft but not mushy or disintegrating.

The major staple food in Henan is rice and the most important meat is pork. Unlike many other parts of China, Henan cooks commonly serve rice with oil produced from animal fat. Noodles are popular in Henan cuisine, especially rice vermicelli noodles. In addition to this, Henan cuisine can be recognized on its extensive use of onions. Interestingly enough, pork is almost never used to make soup in Henan; soups will instead typically contain lamb or mutton.

A well known part of Henan cuisine is the Luoyang Shuixi (Luoyang “Water Table”) which consists of a rich profusion of soups. The “table” is filled with both meat and vegetable dishes, including meat from fish, poultry and livestock. The soups all have different tastes, such as salty, sweet, sour and spicy. Each course is served in a particular order in accordance to traditional customs.