Digestible and Indigestible Foods

calories, usually to regions of the world where many people do not have enough to eat. The staple food will be different from region to region.

Often, people who eat a lot of staple food help make it interesting by adding smaller amounts of vegetables or protein in order to add additional fiber, vitamins, or protein. A common way to add protein to staple foods is to put in beans or other legumes. Small amounts of meat can also be used in these types of foods. Staple foods tend to be in carbohydrates and low in cost to produce.

The staple food used in most parts of the world is corn. Places in the world that use corn this way include Mexico and parts of Europe, South America, and the United States. It can be eaten all as sweetcorn or ground up to make a type of flour called cornflower. Corn syrup is made from corn. You can also make cooking oil and whiskey using this staple food.

Rice is the second most commonly used staple food. The most likely place to see this as a staple food is in Asia, the Middle East, and parts of Africa. It was actually first domesticated in Southeast Asia and India, where it has been grown for thousands of years. It was transported to South America because of trade, where it helps billions of people survive in many parts of the world. China, India, and Indonesia make the most rice in the world.

Wheat is the third most commonly used staple food in the world. It originally grew in the area of Mesopotamia in the Middle East. This is now where all but modern-day Iraq is located. Wheat was most likely the first domesticated crop in ancient times; it remains the most common staple food in much of the United States, Europe, and even China. It is almost always ground up to make flour for baking. Nutritionally speaking, whole wheat flour has more nutrition in it than the typical white flour most people consume.

A small but significant number of people consume some type of root as their main staple food. Foods like this are called tubers. Common tubers grown in the world include yucca or cassava, which is the most common tuber eaten in the world. Potatoes are also tubers that were originally cultivated in the Andes Mountains of South America. Once they were brought to Europe in the 1500s, potatoes became a staple food for this area as well. Other common roots or tubers are sweet potatoes and yams.