In a few thousand years, roast pork will still come with a crust. But maybe there won’t be any more pork in it, rather pea proteins with a lot of iron. The potato dumplings that are served with it may still be made from potatoes. However, our descendants do not need complex analyzes of soil samples from relevant beer garden areas in order to exchange the latest findings in science magazines, for example that quirky people at the beginning of the third millennium AD actually ate pigs. They simply pull this knowledge from the Internet, where it will be stored for millions of years.
It’s not that simple with the Neolithic period, so it’s commendable that researchers, with the help of experts from the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, are now using potsherds recovered in Scotland to shed some light on the diet of that time. The pottery found underwater dates from between 3600 and 3300 BC. Molecular fat residues on it indicate the consumption of cereals, milk and meat. The fats have settled in the porous clay during cooking or storage. The university says that the biomolecular components were decoded using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. A chemical fingerprint is created which, together with a determination of the ratio of the carbon isotopes of the fatty acids, enables the foodstuffs once used to be identified. The analyzes show that people were already consuming wheat back then and not just barley, as was previously assumed. They were also shown to cook meat in larger vessels separate from grain and milk.
One can hope that in another 3,600 years, the recipes for white sausage will not be lost in the depths of the global memory called the Internet. If it does, future researchers might also be able to use gas chromatography and similar miracle cures to understand the composition of this Bavarian cultural asset. Pea proteins, we can tell posterity that much, will not be found in the fat residues of the white sausage. Our descendants will still be surprised.