Staple food around the world

The staple food is the chief food of the people of a particular country. Rice is our staple. Some kind of cereal was the staple food of those people who, many many centuries ago settled down in river valleys _ the Nile Valley, Tigris-Euphrates Valley, Indus Valley and Hwang Ho Valley _ and started cultivating the cereals and edible plants that grew wild in those areas.

Cereals are various types of grass-producing edible (can be eaten) grains. These cereals became their main food, their staple and they continued to be cultivated over the centuries right up to modern times.

The cereals which formed the staple of various peoples from ancient times are rice, maize, wheat, rye, barley and millet.

Maize

Next to rice, this is the most widespread food crop. This cereal is a native of Central America and the northern part of South America. It was the staple of the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of South America, two very advanced societies in the American continent before Columbus discovered this continent. Hordes of Spaniards followed him to what they called the ‘New World.’

Maize was and still is the staple of the people of Mexico and of some Indian tribes such as the Hopi of Arizona and the Iroquois who once occupied what is now New York State and the region to its South. Iraquois (Iraqwai) were great agriculturists and they had many varieties of maize. The Hopi, through centuries of selection, have produced a hardy grain suited to arid harsh conditions.

Aztecs cultivated maize in fields watered by irrigation canals, just the same way rice was cultivated in the Raja Rata during the days of our kings, Tortilla is to the people of Mexico what bread is to the Americans and Europeans. It is a flat cake like our ‘roti’ made with maize flour.

In most regions of the Inca empire, maize was the staple; in those regions. Where maize cannot ripen because of the high altitude (height above sea level) of the Andes mountain, the staple was another cereal quinoa. Maize is called corn by the Americans. Corn flour sold in groceries and used in puddings and custards is maize flour. Maize was introduced to Sri Lanka over 100 years ago and is grown mainly in areas with not much rain. Maize is ‘Bada iringu’ in Sinhala and ‘Solumn’ in Tamil.

Barley

Barley was one of man’s earliest foods. Charred (become black by burning) barley grains have been found in ancient ruins and tombs. In some parts of Europe, barley bread was the staple food for many centuries. Barley bread is a heavy bread. Barley is no longer eaten like maize or wheat. More than half the crop is used in the form of barley meal (flour) to feed pigs and cows. Pearl barly - barley ground into tiny round grains - is used for soups and puddings and for drinking. Barley water is given to patients.


 

Rice

Of all staples, rice was the most cultivated cereal and the one that was most consumed. Today it is the staple food of about half the population of the world, and forms the basis of the Asian diet. The main rice-growing countries are also in Asia; the exception being Brazil.It is known that China has been growing rice as far back as 3000 BC. When Alexander conquered Babylon in the Fourth Century BC, he found rice being cultivated on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates There are varieties of rice ranging from the small grains called ‘Samba’ to the sticky rice, consumed in South East Asia, Japan and China. This variety of rice is suited to eating with chopsticks. We in South Asia want the grains of cooked rice to be separate.
 

Wheat

Wheat in the form of bread is now the staple of people in Europe, America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and some countries in South America.

In the earliest days of Babylon and Egypt, wheat was grown. Greece and Rome followed, making wheat their chief food. Hernan Cortes, the explorer, took wheat seeds to Mexico early in the 16th Century, and the English introduced wheat to their colonies in America and the prairies in Canada and to other countries in the British Empire, and wheat became the staple in those countries where the climate was suitable for wheat growing.Wheat is the best cereal for baking bread because it contains gluten which makes the dough rise and the bread becomes light. Rice has no gluten.
 

Millet

Millet is a grain that has been cultivated from about 4,000 BC. It was probably first cultivated in Asia or Africa. It is the staple in a large part of Asia, Russia and Africa. It was the major grain in Europe in the Middle Ages (395 AD - 13 or 14th Century).There is a large variety of millet. The variety known as Bajra in India is a popular food crop in India and Africa.Kurakkan or Kurahan is red millet. It has been cultivated in our country from ancient times and still is, in the dry zone. It used to be the staple food of peasants in the dry zone. The reddish brown shawl that President Mahinda Rajapaksa wears is a symbol for kurahan, one of the chief food items of the peasants of the Hambantota district, the President’s home district.It was the President’s father’s brother D. M. Rajapaksa, the member for Hambantota in the State Council (1936-1944) who first wore a reddish brown shawl, the colour of kurahan or kurakkan, the staple of the peasants of the district he represented.

Rye

This cereal was the staple of the people of the northern countries of Europe until wheat was introduced. Rye bread was the staple of peasants and factory workers in many parts of Europe. Rye contains gluten, so rye bread is light.

Other staples

What was the staple food of hunters and gatherers and of nomadic tribes that moves with their animals from place to place, and of those who lived in small islands where agriculture was not possible? Hunters and gatherers had no staple as such. They ate whatever yams or tubers or fruits they collected and the flesh of birds and small animals they killed. A sort of ‘roti’ made from manioc flour was an important item in the diet of the Witato, a tribe living in the Amazon jungle.Sweet potato was the staple of the Maori, the original inhabitants of New Zealand. Sweet potato taro, a yam like our ‘kiri ala’ and bread fruit are the main food items of the people of the Pacific Islands like Samoa, Fiji and Tonga. Milk and the byproducts of milk - whey, cottage cheese and curd - were staples of pastoral tribes. In winter and when the herds became very large, the older animals and the unwanted animals were slaughtered and their flesh eaten. However the Toda, a tribe in South India never ate the flesh of their buffaloes, the only animals they reared. The buffalo was a sacred animal.

- Sumana Saparamadu