2. Pasteurization / sterilization

Useful for the prevention of bacterial contamination in food, particularly milk.

3. Canning

Developed in the early 19th century, canning is a method of preserving food by processing and sealing it in an airtight container. Canning provides a typical shelf life ranging from one to five years. It also provides a fun weekend activity for humans who live in Brooklyn.

4. The oven

The earliest ovens, found in Central Europe, date from 29,000 BC, and were used, at times, to cook mammoth. Their more contemporary counterparts, gas ovens, were first developed in the early 19th century and were used, at times, to cook buns.

5. Irrigation

Irrigation is the artificial application of water to land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, and in the revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas. This is particularly useful during periods of inadequate rainfall.

6. Threshing machine/combine harvester

Invented in the late 18th century, the thresher brought more industrialization to farming, allowing for the mechanized separation of grain from stalks from husks. The device was originally called the "thrasher." Prior to its invention, farmers had separated grain by hand, with flails.

7. Baking

This is a food cooking method that employs prolonged, dry heat to cook food. Baking acts by convection, rather than by thermal radiation, and is typically undertaken in ovens, in hot ashes, or on hot stones. Its results can also be facilitated by invention #14.

8. Selective breeding / strains

Selective breeding is the process of breeding plants and animals for particular traits. It allows humans to manipulate natural selection among the plants and animals they consume in order to produce food products that are genetically stable. It is also the reason that a bull named Badger-Bluff Fanny Freddie has sired thousands of the dairy cattle in the United States.

9. Grinding / milling

Grinding is the process of grinding grain or other materials in a mill. It produces, among other things, flour, which is the main ingredient of bread -- a staple food for many cultures. The milling of grain has been a practice since 6000 BC, enacted by millstones and similar implements -- and replicated pretty much the same way until the late 19th century brought the advent of the steam mill.

10. The plough

A plough is a tool (or, more commonly now, a machine) that cultivates soil in preparation for sowing seeds. It has existed, in some form, pretty much since the dawn of recorded history, and represents one of the major advances in agriculture. In that regard, it facilitated the rise of sedentary human civilization.

11. Fermentation

Beer. More formally, "the conversion of carbohydrates to alcohols and carbon dioxide or organic acids using yeasts, bacteria, or a combination thereof, under anaerobic conditions" -- which leads to such products as alcohol, wine, vinegar, yogurt, bread, and cheese. Mostly, though: beer.