Rye, Barley, Wheat, and Oats

"Rye, Barley, Wheat, and Oats"

No, the title of this is not in reference to an unreleased secret recording of a rare Simon and Garfunkle song... this is what I've been speaking to classes about as of late.

One of the teachers I work with came up to me and kind of was confused about something. He's the teacher that often asks me questions about things he reads. I'm always glad when he does because it means 2 things... 1) I get to communicate with another human (a major departure from my daily schedule) 2) The questions are usually about things that I never really notice about western culture.

Today the question was "In this book, it says 'their diet usually consisted of rye and wheat bread, cabbage soup, and...' Does this mean that the bread was wheat and rye in one bread? or two separate things?"

Of course the answer is two separate things. Then came the interesting part "In Japan we think of wheat, oat, barley, and rye as one group. They are all resembling the same thing, a form of wheat. They are in one group. Do you think this?"

Weird. This explains why when I bought rye bread and wheat bread at the super market, they both tasted like white bread. This resulted in a conversation where the teacher kept saying "heeeeeeeeeeh" the Japanese equivelent of "whooooooaaaaaa." I'd say "Rye bread tastes nothing like wheat bread. Wheat bread tastes nothing like white bread... they are all different, completely different. If you order a sandwich at a store, sometimes they ask you what kind of bread you want. Other times if you order food that comes with toast, they will offer you a choice of wheat, white, or rye. It's THAT different."

His mind was so blown by this concept that he asked me to speak to some of his grammar classes about it. I went in and lay it straight about my grains and breads. Let's just say, I totally flipped their world upside down. I even went so far as to mention that there are different kinds of wheat breads. "We have 7 Grain or 12 Grain bread, dark wheats, wheat breads with nuts and seeds... all sorts of nifty wheat breads" I didn't go into pumpernickel, challah, cinnamon rasin, or other things yet... they aren't read for that.

I might have to find some true wheat, rye, oat, and barley breads to send to this guy just to show him what he's missing. I wonder if he's even emotionally, mentally, and physically prepared to experience these different kinds of breads, I guess that's a risk I'm willing to take though.

-Mike