Bread and meat were usually side dishes at the table, but in Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, meat and bread were competitors. Countries with backward agriculture often had vast tracts of wasteland; for instance, among nomadic peoples, meat was their staple food, while staples such as flour were comparatively expensive.
In regions with relatively advanced agriculture, all the land had been cultivated, leaving less wasteland available for livestock. The cost of pasture for raising animals rose, because people needed not only meat but also milk and horses, all of which required pasture. And such a large, cumbersome commodity was difficult to transport from afar.
That was the situation in the Netherlands. Their land was used to produce fodder, while grain, people's basic food, was imported from abroad. Many parts of ancient Italy had always been like this. In Cicero's records, during the height of ancient Rome, raising fine livestock on private estates was the most profitable business, while grain was shipped in from conquered provinces such as Egypt and Syria at extremely low prices, or even for free, in lieu of taxes.
Georgia lay in the South Caucasus, bordering Turkey and Russia and situated on the Black Sea. It had accepted Russian protection since 1783. It was the land where Jason found the Golden Fleece, and before its incorporation into the Russian Empire, it had always been a prize contested by the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid Empire.
As Georgiana kneaded the cheese pie filling, she kept pondering one question: was this proposal from the Dutch West India Company truly made in good faith?
In the fourth edition of The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith dedicated the work to a man named Henry Hope. He was the owner of Hope Bank in Amsterdam. Or rather, being able to establish