A plate of lentil soup

Originally the “Neolithic” age meant the new stone age, from the Greek “Neos” for “new” and “Lithic” for “stone”. It followed the “Paleolithic” age or early stone age with a transitional period between the two, being called the “Mesolithic” age. The term “Neolithic” was coined in 1865 by the English archaeologist Sir John Lubock. Later the meaning of “Neolithic” changed into “that period of human development in which mankind started agriculture and domesticated animals.” This revolutionary event is considered by most historians as important to human kind as the discovery of the use of fire in about 500,000 BC.
The direct result of cultivation of the soil was that humanity had to give up their food gathering lifestyle. As they now depended on the ripening of crops, the changing of the seasons became a factor to be reckoned with and consequently the study of the weather a necessity and as a result of that, the heavens a matter of course. As we have strong tribal instincts, people lived in small communities for protection and security against marauders, hostile neighbouring settlements and natural calamities. There was also the need for a sizeable labour force and civic co-ordination in order to grow certain crops like grains and especially rice, the irrigation of which we see a marvellous example in the organisation of the subaks on Bali, which guarantee that even the smallest paddy field gets its share of water. At first people lived in hamlets and villages but soon some of these villages became small towns and then cities, until a few cities ultimately developed in the modern urban scourge, the metropolis and megalopolis, the sprawling urban cancers with which we - in this day and age - are all too familiar.
It is, however, not the present which fascinates me as much as the past. Contemporary times are altogether too frightening to contemplate and I can only apprehend with horror what the younger generation will experience even twenty to fifty years from now. The deterioration of our planet is accelerating at an alarming pace and I am convinced that it can’t be arrested, unless something “out there” more powerful than us which you may call God or the superior being, whatever that might be, stops the greed, the power madness, short-sightedness, intolerance and the irresponsible behaviour of the human termite who, contrary to our relatives the insect, eats its habitat without having a new one to move to. Alas, what if that “something out there” in a mighty universe of billions and billions of galaxies, stars and planets does not think us consequential enough for consideration. After all, this tiny world must be less significant than a grain of sand on all the beaches of the world.
There is plenty of evidence that even before the brilliant idea of agriculture came to the mind of prehistoric man, or even more likely woman, that legumes like peas, beans, lentils, and other vegetables where gathered in the wild and part of the diet. The Neolithic revolution did not occur everywhere at the same time: in some places people kept their old gathering lifestyle until quite recently.
For us in Southeast Asia, it is most interesting to note that some of the earliest manifestations of agriculture happened right here in Thailand, in the plains of Isarn, where rice was cultivated even before 5000 BC or seven thousand years ago. There is also evidence that certain vegetables like cucumbers, peas and water chestnuts were grown near the Burmese border at an incredible early age of 9000 years BC. This does not mean however - what many people like to believe - that they were the ancestors of the modern day Thais. On the contrary, Southeast Asia, like practically all parts of the world, has been over the ages in a constant state of flux with intermittent migration over thousands of years.
In Southwest Asia, Neolithic development happened about a thousand years later, but there it was barley, wheat and legumes like lentils which were first grown. One of the latest theories - and a controversial one for that matter - is that grains were initially not grown to make bread but to brew beer, which does not sound too outlandish to me considering how important alcohol has always been in history. There is also evidence that in some places villages already sprung up even before the Neolithic revolution and that farming and the breeding of cattle began even before the invention of pottery. A theory other savants adhere to is that it was not the cultivation of grain which started urban settlements but new and abundant fields of wild grains. Whatever the case may have been, we will probably never know the truth.
What we do know, however, is that since ancient times lentils have been one of the most important sources of vegetable protein. Indigenous to South-western Asia, they were cultivated long before biblical times. As keen students of the scripture well know, Isaac’s son Esau was so fond of them that he traded his birthright for a plate of lentil soup, a rather reckless thing to do, considering the staggering consequences it would have had on the old testament and the organised religions - Islam, Judaism and Christianity - based on it, if he had withstood the temptation. As usual, little things may have grave consequences.
Our word “lens” comes from the Latin name of the pulse, lens culinaris, and the shape of the actual pea. It is an annual plant of the legume family, the “Leguminosae”. According to Dr. Rodale, an American nutritionist, lentils are probably the oldest vegetable known to man and were eaten long before the Neolithic revolution, especially in the Near East. Lentils are a favourite food of the Indians who are also the greatest producers and they used to be of considerable importance in the European kitchen as well, having only recently lost some of their popularity because, like split peas and the different kinds of beans, when dried, they may be kept for a long time and consequently were an excellent vegetable to be stored for the winter months. These days, fresh produce is available all through the year.
Esau was undoubtedly right in finding lentil soup irresistibly delicious. It can be made in many ways and here follows my version.