Cereals

A cereal is any member of the grass family, Poaceae, that is cultivated for its starchy, edible grain; the English word comes from Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, a nod to how central these grasses have been to farming since antiquity. Cereals became humanity's dominant food source for practical reasons: grasses adapt to almost any habitat and are easy to grow, they tiller — throwing up extra side-shoots that multiply the yield from a single planting — and their grains are compact, dry and hardy enough to be handled, transported and stored for long periods without spoiling, on top of being calorie-dense. Nutritionally they supply carbohydrates, protein, fibre and a spread of vitamins and minerals, and are split by grain size into Major and Minor Cereals. Rice (Oryza sativa) is a semi-aquatic crop grown standing in water, second only to wheat in area and production worldwide and the chief carbohydrate source across Southern and North-Eastern India, with roots traced to South East Asia and early evidence from China, India and Thailand; besides being eaten as plain rice, it is processed into flaked rice (aval) and puffed/parched rice (pori) as snack foods, and its bran yields rice bran oil while the husk is burnt as fuel or used in packing material and fertilizer manufacture. Wheat (Triticum aestivum), first cultivated in the Fertile Crescent some 7,500 years ago and now the staple of North India, is milled into flour for bread and bakery goods, into low-fibre maida for parota and naan, and malted for beverages and alcoholic drinks. Maize (Zea mays) is unusual among cereals in having originated in the New World; it is grown less as human food and more as fodder, though its syrup goes into infant foods and it is also fermente …