埃塞俄比亚画眉草将是下个超级粮食?

Will Ethiopia's Teff Be the Next Super Grain? 埃塞俄比亚画眉草将是下个超级粮食?

Many cultures around the world have a grain that is not grown or even known outside its home area.

Quinoa is from South America. Amaranth fed the Aztecs in Central America.

Now, an ancient grain from Ethiopia, teff, is appearing on grocery shelves in America. Teff has been an important part of the Ethiopian diet for thousands of years. Like oat, rice and wheat, it is a cereal grass. Teff is known for its small grain. It is used mainly to make flour.

Teff has a mild, nutty or earthy taste. Teff flour is the key ingredient for the well-known, spongy flatbread found in Ethiopian restaurants.  

Wayne Carlson learned about teff while doing public health work in Africa in the mid-1970s.

“I came to know teff because I was eating it all the time and hosted by teff farmers."

In the late 70s, Carlson returned to the U.S., married and settled in southwest Idaho. Then he came up with an idea to introduce teff grass to North America in his home state.

"Geologically, it is very similar to Ethiopia. Ethiopia is placed on the East African Rift¹ Valley, which is very much like the Snake River Plain."

Wayne and his wife Elisabeth are not farmers, nor do they want to be. So they convinced actual farmers in Idaho, Oregon and Nevada to grow teff on contract for them. The Carlsons milled it themselves.

Until last year though, there was not a single Ethiopian restaurant or bakery in the entire state of Idaho to sell the milled flour to.

"The way we started was Wayne went through the Washington, D.C., telephone book and looked for the names that were Ethiopian."

And that is how the business slowly grew for several decades, serving the Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrant community in the U.S.

Over time, the Teff Company has outgrown² four different mills. The first was a little stone grinder in the Carlsons' basement. Now, they occupy a remodeled brewery³ complex in Nampa, Idaho.

The Carlsons say the teff flour coming off the mill could end up in an upscale natural foods store or commercial bakery.

A teff explosion

Sales of alternatives to modern wheat are growing quickly each year, says an industry trade group.

Rich Roseberg is a food researcher at Oregon State University.

He says teff production has exploded over the past decade in the U.S. The grain has gone from 1,200 hectares in 2003 to more than 40,000 nationally by 2010. He says most teff grown in the U.S. is fed to farm animals.

"It's a good livestock⁴ forage⁵ in general, but it does seem like horses have a preference for it in some informal taste tests where we compared teff with other common grasses."

In Idaho, however, where the Carlsons are based, Roseberg believes more of the teff production is for human food. Teff contains lots of calcium⁶, iron, protein and fiber⁷. Roseberg credits Wayne Carlson for being ahead of his time.

"He recognized the value of teff -- at least for teff grain -- long before any of the rest of us did."

The University of Nevada, Reno is leading a project to breed "improved" varieties of teff. The aim is to make teff more productive and able to survive drought. Nevada scientists are trying to prepare for severe growing conditions due to global warming.

One advertisement for the Teff Company says, "Move over quinoa, there's a new grain in town." The new grain is really an ancient one, but Wayne Carlson does not like the term "ancient grains" to describe teff.

"Teff was never really a relic⁸. It was never bypassed by history. Teff has always been the mainstay crop for millions and millions of people. It's just that they were geographically⁹ isolated¹⁰ in northeast Africa. So all we've done is said to the rest of the world, 'Hey look, there's this really good stuff there. Why don't you incorporate it in your diet?'"

And the rest of the world is doing just that.

Words in This Story

mill – n. a building with machinery¹¹ for grinding grain into flour

forage – n. grasses and other plants that are eaten by animals

relic – n. something that is from a past time, place, culture

bypass – v. to avoid or ignore

mainstay – n. a very important part of something

upscale – adj. appealing to people who have a lot of money

1 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。

2 outgrown   

长[发展] 得超过（某物）的范围( outgrow的过去分词 )； 长[发展]得不能再要（某物）； 长得比…快； 生长速度超过

参考例句：

• She's already outgrown her school uniform. 她已经长得连校服都不能穿了。
• The boy has outgrown his clothes. 这男孩已长得穿不下他的衣服了。

3 brewery   

n.啤酒厂

参考例句：

• The brewery had 25 heavy horses delivering beer in London.啤酒厂有25匹高头大马在伦敦城中运送啤酒。
• When business was good,the brewery employed 20 people.在生意好的时候，这家酿造厂曾经雇佣过20人。

4 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

5 forage   

n.(牛马的)饲料，粮草；v.搜寻，翻寻

参考例句：

• They were forced to forage for clothing and fuel.他们不得不去寻找衣服和燃料。
• Now the nutritive value of the forage is reduced.此时牧草的营养价值也下降了。

6 calcium   

n.钙(化学符号Ca)

参考例句：

• We need calcium to make bones.我们需要钙来壮骨。
• Calcium is found most abundantly in milk.奶含钙最丰富。

7 fiber   

n.纤维，纤维质

参考例句：

• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。
• The material must be free of fiber clumps.这种材料必须无纤维块。

8 relic   

n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物

参考例句：

• This stone axe is a relic of ancient times.这石斧是古代的遗物。
• He found himself thinking of the man as a relic from the past.他把这个男人看成是过去时代的人物。

9 geographically   

adv.地理学上，在地理上，地理方面

参考例句：

• Geographically, the UK is on the periphery of Europe. 从地理位置上讲，英国处于欧洲边缘。 来自辞典例句
• All these events, however geographically remote, urgently affected Western financial centers. 所有这些事件，无论发生在地理上如何遥远的地方，都对西方金融中心产生紧迫的影响。 来自名作英译部分

10 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

11 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。