This is a timeline of human food and food-related cultural habits, as well as those of our closest extinct relatives. The cut-off point for inclusion is the separation of the Hominina from Pan, the genus that includes modern-day chimpanzees.
Prehistoric times 5-2 million years ago: Hominids shift away from the consumption of nuts and berries to begin the consumption of meat.
2.5-1.8 million years ago: The discovery of the use of fire may have created a sense of sharing as a group. Earliest estimate for invention of cooking, by phylogenetic analysis. 250,000 years ago: Earliest uncontroversial archaeological evidence of hearths. 170,000 years ago: Cooked starchy roots and tubers in Africa. 40,000 years ago: First evidence of human fish consumption: isotopic analysis of the skeletal remains of Tianyuan man, a modern human from eastern Asia, has shown that he regularly consumed freshwater fish.First direct evidence of substantial fish consumption by early modern humans in China PhysOrg.com, 6 July 2009. 30,000 years ago: Earliest archaeological evidence for flour, which was likely processed into an unleavened bread, dates to the Upper Palaeolithic in Europe. 25,000 years ago: The fish-gorge, a kind of fish hook, appears. 13,000 BCE: Contentious evidence of oldest domesticated rice in Korea. Their 15,000-year age challenges the accepted view that rice cultivation originated in China about 12,000 years ago. These findings were received by academia with strong skepticism, and the results and their publicizing has been cited as being driven by a combination of nationalist and regional interests. 12,500 BCE: The oldest evidence of bread-making, found in a Natufian site in Jordan's northeastern desert.Amaia Arranz-Otaegui, Lara Gonzalez Carretero, Monica N. Ramsey, Dorian Q. Fuller, and Tobias Richter: Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan. PNAS, 11 July 2018 (online ) 11,500 - 6200 BCE: Genetic evidence published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) shows that all forms of Asian rice, both indica and japonica, spring from a single domestication that occurred 8,200–13,500 years ago in China of the wild rice Oryza rufipogon.
Neolithic
~9300 BCE: Figs cultivated in the Jordan Valley ~8000 BCE: Squash was grown in Mexico 8000-5000 BCE: Archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence of banana cultivation at Kuk Swamp in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. 8000-5000 BCE: Earliest domestication of potato in the neighbourhood of Lake Titicaca. ~8000 BCE: Wild olives were collected by Neolithic peoplesDavidson, s.v. Olives ~7000 BCE: Cereal (grain) production in Syria ~7000 BCE: Farmers in China began to farm rice and millet, using man-made floods and fires as part of their cultivation regimen. ~7000 BCE: Maize-like plants, derived from the wild teosinte, began to be seen in Mexico. ~7000 BCE: Chinese villagers were brewing fermented alcoholic drinks on small and individual scale, with the production process and methods similar to that of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.McGovern PE, Zhang JZ, Tang JG et al. C (2004) Fermented beverages of pre- and proto-historic China. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 101, 17593–17598. ~7000 BCE: Sheep, originating from western Asia, were domesticated with the help of dogs prior to the establishment of settled agriculture. 7000-5000 BCE: Pumpkin fragments found in Mexico are the oldest evidence of Cucurbita pepo. 6570-4530 BCE: Earliest and controversial estimation of rice cultivation in India. 6140-4550 BCE: Archaeological evidence of fish processing and long-term storage at the Atlit-Yam site, in what is now Israel. ~6000 BCE: Grapes were first grown for wine in the Southern Caucasus. ~5500 BCE: Earliest secure evidence of cheesemaking in Kujawy, Poland. ~5000 BCE: Cattle were domesticated in Mesopotamia after settled agriculture was established ~5000 BCE: Modern-like maize varieties appear. ~5000 BCE: Beans begin to be cultivated in the Americas. ~5000 BCE: Fossilized remains of possibly cultivated potato tubers on a cave floor in Chilca Canyon.
4000-2000 BCE
Earliest archaeological evidence for leavened bread is from ancient Egypt. The extent to which bread was leavened in ancient Egypt remains uncertain.D. Samuel (2000). "Brewing and baking". Ancient Egyptian materials and technology. Eds: P.T. Nicholson & I. Shaw. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press ) p. 558. 4500–3500 BCE: Earliest clear evidence of olive domestication and olive oil extraction. ~4000 BCE: Watermelon, originally domesticated in central Africa, becomes an important crop in northern Africa and southwestern Asia. ~4000 BCE: Agriculture reaches north-eastern Europe. ~4000 BCE: Dairy is documented in the grasslands of the Sahara. 4000 BCE: Citron seeds in Mesopotamian excavations. ~3900 BCE: In Mesopotamia (Ancient Iraq), early evidence of beer is a Sumerian poem honoring Ninkasi, the patron goddess of brewing, which contains the oldest surviving beer recipe, describing the production of beer from barley via bread. ~3600 BCE: Date of the oldest definitive known evidence for popcorn, discovered in New Mexico, United States. It is attributed to the Ancestral Puebloan peoples, who maintained trade networks with peoples in tropical Mexico. ~3500 BCE: Beer produced in what is today Iran. ~3500 BCE: Aquaculture starts in China with the farming of the common carp.Parker R (2000) Aquaculture science Page 6. Delmar Thomson Learning. ~3500–3000 BCE: Several breeds of sheep were established in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. ~3000 BCE: Palm oil found in a tomb in Abydos. ~3000 BCE: Grape cultivation for wine had spread to the Fertile Crescent, the Jordan Valley and Egypt. ~3000 BCE: Sunflowers are first cultivated in North America. ~3000 BCE: South America's Andes region cultivates potato. ~3000 BCE: Archaeological evidence of watermelon cultivation in ancient Egypt. Watermelons appeared on wall paintings; seeds and leaves were deposited in tombs. ~3000 BCE: Beer was spread through Europe by Germanic and Celtic tribes ~3000 BCE: Two alabaster jars found at Saqqara, dating from the First Dynasty of Egypt, contained cheese. These were placed in the tomb about 3000 BC. ~2500 BCE: Domestic pigs, which are descended from wild boars, are known to have existed about 2500 BC in modern-day Hungary and in Troy; earlier pottery from Jericho and Egypt depicts wild pigs. ~2500 BCE: Pearl millet was domesticated in the Sahel region of West Africa, evidence for the cultivation of pearl millet in Mali. 2500–1500 BCE: Time range of several sites with archaeological evidence of potato being consumed and cultivated in the South American continent. 2000–1500 BCE: Rice cultivation in the upper and middle Ganges begins. ~2000 BCE: Visual evidence of Egyptian cheesemaking found in Egyptian tomb murals.History of Cheese. accessed 2007/06/10
2000–1 BCE ~1900 BCE: Evidence for cheese (GA.UAR in Sumerian language) in the Sumerian cuneiform texts of Third Dynasty of Ur.In NBC 11196 (5 NT 24, dated Shu-Sin 6), the 'abra's of Dumuzi, Ninkasi, and I'kur receive butter and cheese from the 'abra of Inanna, according to W.W. Hallo, "The House of Ur-Meme", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 1972; a Sumerian/Akkadian bilingual lexicon of ca 1900 BCE lists twenty kinds of cheese. ~1900 BCE: Evidence of chocolate drinks in Mokaya and other pre-Olmec people. ~1500 BCE: Rice cultivated in the Niger area. ~1100 BCE: Egyptians can purchase a flat (unleavened) bread called ta from stalls in the village streets.Tannahill, Reay (1973). Food in History (Stein and Day. ). p. 37, 61, 69. ~1000 BCE: Rice cultivation spreads to the Middle East and Madagascar. ~1000 BCE: Lower bound for the cultivation of cucumbers in the western Asia. 500 BCE: At this date, tomato was already being cultivated in southern Mexico and probably other areas. 5th century BCE: Garum was used in Greek cuisine. ~400 BCE: Confirmed written evidence of ancient beer production in Armenia, from Xenophon's Anabasis.Xenophon, Anabasis, 4.5.26, on Perseus 327–324 BCE: Alexander the Great expedition to India brings the knowledge of rice to Romans. However rice did not enter as a cultivated crop: The Romans preferred to import rice wine instead. ~300 BCE: Citron brought to Greece by Alexander the Great. 3rd century BCE: Radishes enter the historical record. ~200 BCE: Citron brought to Palestine by Greek colonists. 1st century BCE: Horace mentions Spanish garum (Satires, II.8.46); Spain dominates the fish market.
1–1000 CE
5th century: Bok choy originates in China. 5th century: The Roman cuisine cookbook Apicius, or De re coquinaria is published. 610: Possible invention of the pretzel. According to some narratives in 610 CE "... [a]n Italian monk invents pretzels as a reward to children who learn their prayers. He calls the strips of baked dough, folded to resemble arms crossing the chest, 'pretiola' ('little reward[s]')".What is the story behind the pretzel's special shape? The pretzel represents folded arms across the chest. In that way, it was common to pray during the Middle Ages. According to a story, it was an Italian monk who produced the special pastry in the 7th century. The monk wanted to reward his students with small pieces of bread shaped in the same way as the children's arms when they crossed them during prayer. The pastries were named "pretiolas" - "little rewards". (Translated from Swedish). https://varldenshistoria.se/kultur/gastronomi/varifran-har-kringlan-fatt-sin-form 8th century: The original type of sushi, known today as narezushi (馴れ寿司, 熟寿司), first developed in Southeast Asia and spread to south China, is introduced to Japan. 8th century: Chronicles from monasteries mention Roquefort being transported across the Alps ~800: Cod become an important economic commodity in international markets. This market has lasted for more than 1,000 years, enduring the Black Death, wars and other crises, and it is still an important Norwegian fish trade. ~800: By this date, watermelon reached India. 9th century: First record of cucumber cultivation in France 822: First mention of hops added to beer, by the Carolingian abbot Adalard of CorbieGoogle Books Richard W. Unger, Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance pp57f, University of Pennsylvania Press (2004), . 879: Gorgonzola cheese is mentioned for the first time. 961: Watermelons, introduced by the Moorish, reported to be cultivated in Cordoba, Spain. 997: The term "pizza" first appears "in a Latin text from the southern Italian town of Gaeta [...], which claims that a tenant of certain property is to give the bishop of Gaeta 'duodecim pizze' ['twelve pizzas'] every Christmas Day, and another twelve every Easter Sunday".Salvatore Riciniello (1987) Codice Diplomatico Gaetano, Vol. I, La PoligraficaMartin Maiden (2012) "Linguistic Wonders Series: Pizza is a German Word", YourDictionary.com
1000–1500
11th–14th centuries: Ireland stored and aged butter in peat bogs, being known as bog butter. The practice is effectively ended by the 19th century.Web Exhibits: Butter. Ancient Firkins. ~1100: Wafers are introduced from France into Britain, by the Normans. They were cake-like, however, not crisp like what we today call wafers. ~1100: Watermelons reach China. 12th century: Oldest butter export of Europe, from Scandinavia 1158: Evidence of watermelons cultivated in Seville. 1170: Cheddar cheese documented: A pipe roll of King Henry II from 1170 records the purchase of at a farthing per pound (totaling £10.13s.4d.) 1266: The first written references to genever (or jenever), or Dutch gin. Flemish poet Jacob van Maerlant described how to add parts of the juniper tree to spirits in his book Der Naturen Bloeme. 14th century: First record of cucumber cultivation in Great Britain.