David2403,
As pagh indicated, granaries are not necessary in cities where all foods consumed could be imported. I built several cities without granaries (of those, Abedju, Meidum, South Dahshur, and North Dahshur are in our Downloads). Besides using fewer workers, storage yards are smaller, cheaper, and less undesirable.
However, quite a while back I started always building granaries (except perhaps for early in a mission), whether they are needed or not. Besides avoiding the whining about hunger (a significant reason to me), if the trade route from the city that sells the food happens to close then bazaars would suddenly find the food unavailable.
If your gods are well appeased then you won't get curses. Except for early in a mission, a recent festival to a god is necessary to get its blessing, but if you build enough temples and/or shrines then gods will stay moderately happy without festivals. See the thread that pagh linked.
I'm sure Starkey meant to say that the 'R' key rotates temple complexes (to 1 of 2 possible positions), not temples.