Staple food

As a staple food are referred to, the quantitatively account for the main part of the diet of the people in the culture. In Germany these are mainly taxed at the reduced VAT rate of 7%.

They provide a basic supply of carbohydrates, protein and fat safely, but not necessarily an adequate supply of vitamins and trace elements. One of the world's most important staple foods include cereals such as wheat or rice, storage roots ( tubers, rhizomes ) such as potatoes or yams, legumes such as lentils and beans, and fruits such as dates and figs, or products derived from them such as porridge and bread. Also included among the basic food fish, meat, milk and eggs, which are in addition to legumes of the most consumed protein sources.

What are the food consumed regionally, is highly dependent on cultural, climatic and economic factors. Today, worldwide only a dozen foods serve as a true staple for the majority of the world population.

Water

  • Water. Humans need about 1-2 liters of water per day for drinking.

Plant foods

Cereals and pseudo cereals

  • Wheat, which is the most widely grown crop in the world, along with corn and rice, is for people in many countries as a bread grain is a staple. At the same time he has a great importance in animal fattening. Durum wheat is particularly suitable for the production of pasta ( durum wheat semolina ).
  • Rye is used, especially in Central and Eastern Europe as a bread grain. The relatively high lysine content makes rye become an important part of a balanced diet.
  • Rice is the main staple food for 80 % of the world's population. It is the traditional staple food of the Chinese, Japanese and Korean cuisine and is known in Japan as gohan. This word has two meanings: on the one hand, short-grain rice and on the other hand it is for food or food par excellence. By polishing the brown rice and the triumph of white rice (see bran) have vitamin deficiency diseases such as beriberi spread to a large extent, and were mostly the poorer sections of the population. These deficiencies were in 1912 prompted the discovery of vitamins.
  • Sticky rice is the staple food in the North and Northeast ( Issan ) of Thailand as well as in Laos.
  • Different kinds of millet are the staple food in many parts of Africa and Asia.
  • Corn is grown throughout the world today and is in many countries a staple food, especially in Africa.
  • Quinoa is native to South America, where it together with amaranth is a staple food for 6000 years. They were grown, especially in the highlands of the Andes ( 4000 m ). There they were indispensable for the people, because corn at these altitudes could not be grown.
  • Amaranth was a major food already among the Aztecs, Inca and Maya next to quinoa and corn. Today we know that amaranth has a much higher protein and mineral content as the world's traditional grain crops. Carbohydrates and fiber are present in equal amounts.

Grain Products

  • Bread. The Egyptians had in ancient times the nickname bread eaters. From Egypt came the knowledge of baking bread over Greece and the Roman Empire to Europe. After the fall of Rome, the bread rose to the rank of a hard day 's and men's food. This position kept it in Germany back to the time after the Thirty Years' War in Russia and even up to the beginning of the 20th century.
  • Couscous, cous cous or Cous-cous is a specialty of Berber and North African staple food. It is made ​​from durum wheat semolina or - sometimes even today still original and - made ​​from millet.
  • Bulgur is a staple food in the Middle East, which is consumed as couscous as tabbouleh ( salad).
  • Chapati is the staple food of Hunzukuc and also very common in Pakistan and northern India. A fabric made from barley, millet and whole wheat bread.
  • Nshima (coming from Zambia and Botswana ), mealie pap ( from South Africa), Akple ( from the Volta region ), phutu (from Zulu), ugali ( Kenyan ) or Tô ( from Benin ) is a porridge made from maize flour and water that belongs in the South and west African countries to the staple foods.
  • A precursor of the polenta, pulse or pulmentum, was one of the staple foods of the cuisine of ancient Rome, initially prepared from millet, spelled or chickpeas flour, barley or later from a special type of wheat, far. After 1650 began as corn granoturco, " Turkish grain " to become popular in Italian cuisine. In the 17th century, maize porridge was a common "poor man's food " from Spain to southern Russia. In northern Italy, polenta has remained so popular that the southern Italians call " their northern compatriots something derogatory poland toni ".

Roots and tubers of

  • Potatoes. Country of origin of the potato is the Andean highlands between the present-day Peru and Bolivia. In Prussia, Frederick the Great was responsible for the distribution of potato. During the industrialization of fruits and vegetables were virtually inaccessible to the city proletariat. It is the main food potato provided not only the necessary energy, trace elements and vitamins ( especially vitamin C), as no other major food probably could do (cultural history of the potato ).
  • Sweet potato ( sweet potato ). It is native to Central America; freed African slaves they brought from America to Africa. Today it is cultivated in almost all the warmer countries of the tropics, subtropics and temperate zones of the earth. The largest Batateproduzent the world is China.
  • Cassava was first cultivated by the natives of South America and is still an important basic food in Brazil. Cassava is used intensively and gladly also in Central Africa (Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, etc.). Fufu or Foutou is a porridge made from cassava and plantains, which constitutes the main ingredient of many dishes in Ghana and West Africa.
  • Yam is a climbing plant native to the tropics, serve their tuberous roots due to their starch content such as potatoes as food. Yam is one of the staple foods of African cuisine.
  • With dishes of turnips had to be fed in soup kitchens by the poor supply situation in Germany in winter 1916/1917 during the First World War, large parts of the population. »Breakfast swede soup, lunch chops of swedes, turnips evening of cake ." That brought a turnip a lasting bad reputation.

Legumes

  • The lens was in ancient Egypt, one of the staple food and also in Israel you knew them. Today lenses are grown mainly in Spain, Russia, Chile, Argentina, the USA, Canada and Western Asia. In India alone, more than 50 varieties spread.
  • Soy products are now part of many processed foods. For direct human consumption fresh, green pods are used (" pods " ) of soybean protein or various products such as tofu and soy sauce. There are other preparations, such as miso soup or Yuba.

Ingredients

Animal Products

  • Meat and Poultry
  • Milk (and their products). In cultures that are usually emerged from shepherds and nomads, dairy farming, milk and its products is the focus of nutrition and life. For example, in the Christian and the Islamic world.
  • Eggs
  • Fish is consumed worldwide. The Japanese have by far the largest per - capita consumption. Today there is an acute risk from overfishing in the world's oceans.

Related Topics

  • Nutrition
  • FAO Food Price Index
  • Fermentation
  • Vegetables
  • Famine
  • Food
  • Nutrient
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