Just three cereals – wheat, rice and maize – provide nearly two-thirds of the calories and over half of the protein consumed by the world’s population. But bowls of cereal take many different forms: European breakfast cereals; boiled or steamed rice in Asia; millet or sorghum porridge in Africa. Milling the cereal grains to flour provides the basis of even more staple foods, among them cakes, bread, noodles, tortillas and biscuits.

Use your loaf

The main ingredient in a loaf of bread is flour made from bread wheat (Triticum aestivum). This wheat has been developed over many centuries from wild grasses native to the Near East. Primitive cereals, such as emmer (Triticum dicoccum), einkorn (Triticum monococcum) or spelt (Triticum spelta), have seeds tightly enclosed in tough husks that must be removed before the grains can be ground to flour. In contrast, the grains of bread wheat and macaroni wheat are lightly enclosed by papery husks that are easily removed by threshing. As its name suggests, flour from macaroni wheat (Triticum durum) is ideal for making pasta. It also appears as semolina, couscous and bulgur wheat.

Pumpernickel and other rye breads are very popular in parts of eastern Europe and Russia. Rye (Secale cereale) can withstand colder growing conditions than many cereals.

Tropical porridge

When people sit down to dinner in Sudan, the main dish is likely to be asidah, a thick porridge made from sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) or millet flour, accompanied by a spicy sauce and vegetables. Similar porridges are staple dishes throughout Africa, flavoured with sugar, salt, milk, lemon juice, sesame paste or banana juice. They are sometimes fermented to improve the nutritional quality and inhibit harmful bacteria. There are many different millets. These small-seeded cereals can produce a crop in the arid or semi-arid tropics. Unlike many cereals, they can be stored for several years without harm. Finger millet (Eleusine corocana) is widespread in East and Central Africa, but in China common millet (Panicum milaceum) is the most popular cereal and foxtail millet (Setaria italica) is commonly used in Japan.

The most widely grown tropical cereal is rice (Oryza sativa). It is usually cultivated in flooded paddy fields and needs hot conditions. You can see it growing in the Waterlily House.