The date palm may be the world's oldest food-producing plant known to humans. Wild date palm seeds dating back 50,000 years have been found in the Shanidar Cave of Northern Iraq , left behind by people who moved from place to place, killing small animals and gathering plant food to eat each day. The date was the basis of their diet and essential to their well being in other ways. Its leaves provided shade from the sun and shelter from dust storms. The Sumerians, the cave dwellers' descendants, were cultivating the palm by about 5000 BC. This was one of the earliest efforts by human beings to deliberately create a staple, reliable source of food. Much later the palm became associated with three of the world's major religions-Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Aside from providing food, the date palm gives desert people building materials, animal feed, rope and tools.

Palms are desert plants, which grow naturally in oases, dry, warm places of little rainfall but an adequate underground water supply. They appreciate having their feet in the water and their heads in the sun, not unlike a duck. Today commercial palms are grown in large irrigated stands. Iraq grows 80% of the world's dates, with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Egypt also producers. California growers have been in production since the early 1900's. California date stock reseeded Kuwaiti date groves destroyed during the Gulf War of 1991. Australia is the newest home of the date palm.

The date is packed with iron and fairly rich in niacin, potassium, calcium and magnesium. Dates are also, of course, high carbohydrate foods full of sugar.