What crops to grow?

There are literally hundreds of thousands of plant species in the wild that are potential food sources for humans. However, plant species ultimately selected as the basis for agricultural societies both in antiquity and modern times became limited to only a very few. This chapter explores the factors that so dramatically narrowed the choice of plant species for food consumption. It describes the qualities of the eight staple grains, which are members of the grass family Gramineae or Poaceae - wheat, rice, maize, barley, oats, rye, sorghum, and millet -, that led to their selection as the basic food for so many people.