I have been meaning to ask this question for over a year now, but I never think of it when I am here. I hear din a documentary once that more than 90% of the worlds population are dependent upon seven staple crops for survival (they never said which seven). Two questions: 1.) Can anyone verify this? I've looked and found nothing stating the same. 2.) What seven crops? My guess... Rice Corn Wheat After those three, I'm at a loss.
I don't think Africans eat a lot of wheat, corn and rice. You should find out what they do eat and you'll probably get at least two of the missing four. You're concentrating on the grasses. Maybe check into the tubers. Millions of people once lived on potatoes, perhaps they still do. And I think yams are really big in Africa. Then legumes. Perhaps soybeans in Asia or various other beans in the New World. Mexico is certainly in the corn camp despite their penchant for pinto beans, but what do poor people in Central and South America eat?
Soybeans is a good one - my girlfriend mentioned that one. She also brought up barley and potatoes. I know that a lot of poor South Americans eat Quinoa, but I don't know if enough depend on it for survival to make it one of the seven staples.
In the order grown world-wide: 1. Corn/maize 2. Wheat 3. Rice 4. Potatoes 5. Yams 6. Legumes (beans, peas, soy) 7. In dispute: Bananas, sorghum, rye, sugar cane/beets and a few others.
` Sorghum In 1994, sorghum ranked fifth among the most important cereal crops of the world after wheat, rice, maize, and barley in both total area planted and production. http://darwin.nmsu.edu/~molbio/plant/sorghum.html
From the site...uh... cited: Sorghum is an important part of the diets of many people in the world. It's made into unleavened breads, boiled porridge or gruel, malted beverages including beer, and specialty foods such as popped grain and syrup from sweet sorghum. mmmm! Sor-Beer... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Africans don't eat a lot of anything. Palm oil is very, very important. Maybe not a staple, but virtually all cooking oils are made out of it.