Ancient Egyptians were on largely vegan diets

[TylerDurden]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2627053/Were-ancient-Egyptians-VEGETARIAN-Carbon-analysis-suggests-ate-fruit-wheat-barley-not-fish.html

[eveheart]

This article makes complete sense, considering that "ancient" Egyptians weren't all that ancient! Most of the river-valley civilizations were agrarian societies that used flooding rivers to provide fertile soil and irrigation. Grain must have been their "convenience" food, and a full granary must have been a source of food security. It was also an ideal commodity, easy to transport and trade. From the parallels to today's big agribusiness, it's easy to see why field crops were king.

[cherimoya_kid]

Exactly.  Pretty much all the major civilizations of the Middle East and Far East were heavy grain eaters from the beginning.