Origins of Plant Food Staples

Potatoes

Ever wonder where the foods you like to eat originally came from? Have you ever wondered how our prehistoric ancestors coped with only the foods they had at hand? First they were hunter-gatherers, then came the development of agriculture that allowed for permanent settlements and the evolution of food plants from something most of us wouldn’t recognize to the foods we eat today.

Rice

As an anthropologist who specializes in sustainable agriculture and

food these things fascinate me. Even more interesting, perhaps, is how the food plants made their way from their places of origin to other places, especially with the starch staples all cultures rely on.

Evolution of Maize (Corn)

For example, potatoes originated in the highlands of South America, particularly the Peruvian and Chilean Andes, and later became a staple in Ireland and Germany.

So, let’s look at the origins of some of the major staple plant foods:

Potato: Peru and Chile
Corn (Maize): Mesoamerica (central Mexico to parts of present day Central America)
Rice: originated in both Asia and Africa, but

Evolution of Wheat

theoldest rice cultivation we know of is in China around 10,000 BC. The African variety came later (Oryza glaberrima). The Asian varieties (Oryza sativa) overtook the African as it spread to other regions, including in Africa itself.
Wheat: There are many cerals used as staples, wheat is not the only one, but is perhaps the most important, so I will discuss Triticum aestivum L. It seems to have originated in the Fertile Crescent and Nile Delta.

Tags: Africa, agriculture, Andes, Chile, China, corn, evolution, food archaeology, food history, food prehistory, Germany.Europe, history, Ireland, Middle East, origins of agriculture, Peru, potato, rice, wheat.cereal.grain