While all civilizations required a stable food supply, the quality of the average citizen's meal varied greatly from age to age and place to place. In ancient times, meat was rare, protein scarce, and malnutrition common. As a result, most men grew to a mere five feet and died before the age of forty. Even in the 20th century, as beef, pork, and chicken became staples on the tables of Europe and North America, billions in Asia, India, and Africa continued to eat a meal indistinguishable from their ancestors two millennia before. In fact, rising populations in the third world only proved that human beings could thrive in poverty, malnutrition, and despair.