Food Origin Timeline

By flynneous
  • 9000 BCE

    Sheep domestication

    Raised and killed for clothing, and meat.
  • Period: 9000 BCE to 7000 BCE

    Mesopotamia discovers milk

    America and similar regions found out about animal milk much later, around 3500–3000 BC.
  • 8500 BCE

    Domestication of goats, pigs, and cow

    Some have been domesticated for food, work, companionship, or a combination of all three.
  • 8000 BCE

    People begin to grow food

    Women plant seeds of wild grasses on cleared land. Their tools were digging sticks.
  • 6000 BCE

    Crushing grains and cereals to make flour

    Then bread
  • 5000 BCE

    Rice is grown in China

  • 4000 BCE

    Lemons, bananas, limes and oranges originated in Kashmir, India. Wine is made from grapes.

  • 3000 BCE

    Potatoes are harvested in the Andes Mountains in South America

  • 2600 BCE

    The Egyptians sun-dry fish and chicken

    This is a big step in the preservation of foods by removing moisture, thus preventing bacteria growth.
  • 2475 BCE

    Olive trees are grown on the island of Crete.

    (Greece)
  • 1200 BCE

    Cheese in Egypt

    In 2018, we discovered that the earliest cheese came from Egyptian tombs, and were likely very sour.
  • 350 BCE

    A Greek author writes a collection of recipes.

    It may be the first-ever 'cookbook.'
  • 200 BCE

    The Japanese make salt from dried seaweed and use it to preserve foods.

    They also make soy sauce.
  • Period: 130 BCE to 1453

    Silk Road

    The Silk Road was a network of trades connecting China and the Far East with the Middle East and Europe. Created when the Han Dynasty in China officially opened trade with the West, the Silk Road routes remained in use until the Ottoman Empire boycotted trade with China and closed them.