Anybody else read the book Against the Grain: How Agriculture has
Hijacked Civilization by Richard Manning. I'm almost finished it now and
  I totally recommend it. Not only are grains not good for us, their
growth and spread has been disastrous in innumerable ways for mankind --
they are an ecological disaster as well as the underpinning of poverty
and human conflict. Give the book to your favorite vegan the next time
they tell you how benign is grain agriculture versus animal husbandry,
although he makes that case that meat production based on grain is also
a disaster. It says that the natural ecological praire system that
supported bison was the best -- turns out the natural grasses are better
for cattle, produce healthier meat for us and actually supported more
bison than the grain grown and used as feed for the land area used.
Grain is a racket -- surplus used to make fake foods, etc. Here's an
interview of the author:
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/interviews/int2004-04-01.htm and a
article he recently wrote for Harpers:
http://csf.colorado.edu/archive/2004/food_security/msg00184.html

Liz