the.com/wheat
the grass that conquered the planet by convincing humans to plant it everywhere.
means A cereal grass widely cultivated for its grain, which is ground into flour to make bread, pasta, and countless other staple foods.
from From Old English 'hwǣte,' tracing back to a Proto-Germanic root (compare German 'Weizen' and Dutch 'tarwe' via different paths), which itself likely derives from a Proto-Indo-European word meaning 'white' — the same family that gives us 'white' itself. The connection is the pale flour the grain yields, so 'wheat' is, at heart, 'the white stuff.'
domesticationFarmed for over 10,000 years near the Fertile Crescent.
global reachCovers more land than any other food crop.
gluten originThe protein giving dough its stretchy elasticity.
wild ancestorEinkorn and emmer were its scrappy forerunners.
calorie kingProvides about a fifth of all human calories.