Live crabs Through Vending Machines

Asians are known to treat animals quiet differently than Europeans or Americans do. But their latest invention really gives me the creeps. Hungry commuters can now grab live crabs from vending machines on their way home.

In the municipality of Nanjing in China crab dishes are already very popular. With the vending machines, the Twin Lake Crab Company, a big crab seller in China, wants to make crab more easily available to consumers. A living crab from the vending machines costs between € 2 and € 6 (between $ 3 and $ 9) depending on the size of the crab (small, medium or large). The vending machines keep their temperature steady at 5 degrees Celsius, sedating the crabs without killing them. The crabs are sold in transparent plastic boxes, just big enough to hold them.

Baking Bread in Ancient Egypt

The development of agriculture approximately 10,000 years ago gave rise to permanent settlements which grew into cities and civilizations.  Emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccon), also known as farro, was one of the first crops domesticated in the Ancient Near East, which included the modern countries of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and Egypt.  Emmer wheat is not cultivated today because it is a low yielding variety.  Also, Emmer wheat is more difficult to mill into flour because the chaff does not come off through threshing.