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Getting Ready to Read Unbowed, by Wangari Maathai

Staple food. Excerpts from Wikipedia, selected and adapted by MF (2018)

A staple food, food staple, or simply a staple, is a food that is eaten routinely and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet for a given people, supplying a large fraction of energy needs and generally forming a significant proportion of the intake of other nutrients as well. A staple food of a specific society may be eaten as often as every day or every meal, and most people live on a diet based on just a small number of food staples. Specific staples vary from place to place, but typically are inexpensive or readily available foods that supply one or more of the macronutrients needed for survival and health: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Typical examples include tubers and roots, grains, legumes, and seeds.

Early agricultural civilizations valued the foods that they established as staples because, in addition to providing necessary nutrition, they generally are suitable for storage over long periods of time without decay. Such nonperishable foods are the only possible staples during seasons of shortage, such as dry seasons or cold temperate winters, against which times harvests have been stored. During seasons of plenty, wider choices of foods may be available.

Staple foods are derived either from vegetables or animal products, and common staples include cereals (such as rice, wheat, maize, millet, or sorghum), starchy tubers or root vegetables (such as potatoes, cassava [manioc, yuca, mandioca and Brazilian arrowroot], sweet potatoes, yams, or taro), meat, fish, eggs, milk, and cheese. Other staple foods include pulses (dried legumes), sago (derived from the pith of the sago palm tree), and fruits (such as breadfruit and plantains). Staple foods may also include (depending on the region): olive oil, coconut oil and sugar (e.g. from plantains).

Demographics

Except for war-torn countries, the people of the world are getting more daily calories, despite a growing population globally.

Of the more than 50,000 edible plant species in the world, only a few hundred contribute significantly to human food supplies. Although there are over 10,000 species in the cereal family, just a few have been widely cultivated over the past 2,000 years.

The dominant staple foods in different parts of the world are a function of weather patterns, local terrain, farming constraints, acquired tastes and ecosystems. For example, the main energy source staples in the average African diet are cereals (46 percent), roots and tubers (20 percent) and animal products (7 percent). In Western Europe the main staples in the average diet are animal products (33 percent), cereals (26 percent), and roots and tubers (4 percent).

Most of the human population lives on a diet based on one or more of the following staples: cereals (rice, wheat, maize/corn, millet, and sorghum), roots and tubers (potatoes, cassava, yams and taro), and animal products such as meat, milk, eggs, cheese and fish. Regional staples include the plants rye, soybeans, barley, oats, and teff.

Just 15 plant crops provide 90 percent of the world's food energy intake (exclusive of meat), with rice, maize, and wheat comprising 2/3 of human food consumption. These three are the staples of about 80 percent of the world population, and rice feeds almost half of humanity.

Roots and tubers, meanwhile, are important staples for over one billion people in the developing world, accounting for roughly 40 percent of the food eaten by half the population of sub-Saharan Africa. Roots and tubers are high in carbohydrates, calcium, and vitamin C, but low in protein. Cassava root, for example, is a major food staple in the developing world, a basic food source for around 500 million people.

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With economic development and free trade, many countries have shifted away from low-nutrient-density staple foods to higher-nutrient-density staples, as well as towards greater meat consumption [Documentary: Earthlings]. Despite this trend, there is growing recognition of the importance of traditional staple crops in nutrition. Agriculture constantly seeks to identify better plant strains with superior nutrition, disease resistance, and higher yields.

Some foods like quinoa—a pseudocereal grain that originally came from the Andes—were also staples centuries ago. … In 2010, the global consumption of "speciality grains", such as quinoa, was very small compared to other staples, such as rice, wheat, and maize. These grains, once popular, are being reevaluated and reintroduced to certain markets.

Production

Most staple food is currently produced using modern, conventional farming practices. However, the production of staple food using organic farming methods is growing.

Ten staple foods of global importance (ranked by annual production) World production, 2012

Average world yield, 2010

World's most productive countries, 2012

World's largest producing countries, 2013

Rank Crop (metric tons) (tons per hectare) (tons per hectare) Country (metric tons) Country

1 Maize (Corn) 873 million 5.1 25.9 United States 354 million United States

2 Rice 738 million 4.3 9.5 Egypt 204 million China 3 Wheat 671 million 3.1 8.9 New Zealand 122 million China 4 Potatoes 365 million 17.2 45.4 Netherlands 96 million China 5 Cassava 269 million 12.5 34.8 India 47 million Nigeria 6 Soybeans 241 million 2.4 4.4 Egypt 91 million United States

7 Sweet potatoes 108 million 13.5 33.3 Senegal 71 million China

8 Yams 59.5 million 10.5 28.3 Colombia 36 million Nigeria 9 Sorghum 57.0 million 1.5 86.7 United States 10 million United States 10 Plantain 37.2 million 6.3 31.1 El Salvador 9 million Uganda