Ergot, witchcraft and civilization
I spent some time reading up about ergot and rye this past week. Really fascinating stuff. It has had a significant impact on European civilization and was likely the reason for Christianity's whole outlook on witchcraft - all through bread.
I did a (rather lengthy, sorry) blog piece about what I found:
http://ianchadwick.com/blog/bread-madness-and-christianity/ [1]
It has links to many of the sites I discovered while researching. What it does for me is to underscore the important role bread played in our cultural and social development; how bread impacts everything in our heritage.
I have a lot more research to do in related areas, and I'll let you know when I post anything new.
I am as fascinated by the history of bread as by making it. This is what I like to do when I'm not baking. Here's what I do when I bake: