Local cooking preferences drove acceptance of new crop staples in prehistoric China

The food preparation preferences of Chinese cooks -- such as the technological choice to boil or steam grains, instead of grinding or processing them into flour -- had continental-scale consequences for the adoption of new crops in prehistoric China, according to new research. The authors drew on data from the bones of nearly 2,500 humans to map patterns of changing cuisines over the course of 6,000 years.