When I was researching for my artwork Nutrice, an installation based on seven different cereals, I went deeper and deeper in the knowledge of grains and their history.
The west civilization was built mostly on
wheat. Grains represent 65% of our agriculture. We eat more wheat than just about anything.The problem is that we don't eat true, whole wheat, but something heavily processed, which is dead, denuded and also deprived of his particular flavour.
So processed it will last. It becomes shelf stable.
Agri-business is looking for crops that can last a long time in travel or last a long time in your kitchen. They are not looking for flavour. They are not looking for nutrition.
The real disaster in all of this is that we lost the taste of grain and we lost all the health benefits, and for something that we eat so much of, it's really a true disaster.
So I started wondering if there were a way to make a difference. Searching for a more genuine, healthy and responsible consumption I ended up buying a little stone mill!
Considering that many of the micronutrients contained in wholegrain flour go rancid in a short time, the best solution to preserve all the nutrients and the true flavour of a cereal is using fresh milled and preferably stone-ground flour.
Since I first tasted my homemade bread backed with flour from my own mill, I felt in love with my little "Handmühle". It's a german product, made mostly of natural wood with two resistant stones that function scraping with force on each other. This model is completely manual, environmentally friendly, even though it makes me work really hard!
Now, that I enjoy the smell and taste of fresh ground flour, I buy only organic grains and I like making culinary experiments not only using the wheat but also trying different cereals as barley, oat, rye, spelt, millet, brown rice, corn and pseudo cereals as quinoa, amaranth and buckwheat.