In the past barley was used as commonly as wheat in many places... used to make bread and porridge and such. It seems to have fallen out of use in that sense, but that didn't stop me from trying it several times!
Either it is an English terminology thing or there is definitively sugar cane missing in this list. Presumably on the 4th spot?! (In 2018, roughly twice as much sugar cane was produced when compared to corn. There is a long way from sugar cane to calorie uptake, but still...)
The quiz was about calories, and sugar is nearly 100% carbohydrates. I was also wondering about sugarcane and beetroot, and olives, rapeseed, sunflowers and oil palms. And coconut.
A lot of sugar cane is used for biofuel production in countries like Brazil. Although I can say the same about corn in the US (which is less efficient).
Rice and wheat I get, but how can maize be that big? Who use maize as such a big part of their diet? It sound like someone must be eating a lot of corn bread somewhere..
Corn is used in lots of stuff. Corn Chips, Corn Bread, Corn Muffins, Popcorn, etc. even corn on it's own is really popular too. Plus corn flour is used in many things you probably weren't even aware of. Cheese puffs (cheese doodles or cheetos, whatever you call them) are actually puffed corn with cheese flavoring. In many East African countries, corn meal is the staple food - look up ugali if you wanna learn more about it. In the U.S., and probably many other western nations, corn is often used in gluten-free substitutes as well. Not to mention corn syrup.
It's eaten a decent amount in western society, though less than wheat, but corn is a major staple in Latin America and in Africa. I wasn't surprised to see it on top of the list.
Those are valid points but the Americas and Africa barely add up to 2.5 billion people (and many in Africa eat mostly sorghum, millet, cassava, and yams), whereas Asia and Europe add up to 5 billion, essentially all rice and wheat eaters.
corn is HUGE (at least in american food, which is what ive researched). omnivore's dilemma by michael pollan gives a lot of insight into the way that corn has taken over american agriculture and is overall my favorite book ever, so give it a read if you find the time!
It's in a TON of foods and used for corn oil, in the Americas anyways. I eat corn on the cob at least once a week, corn chips, tortilla shells, popcorn at the movies lol. Where are you from that corn is not common? I guess it never really occurred to me that corn wasn't super common in other parts of the world, but I guess it makes sense!
Could you accept great millet for sorghum? I believe it's a very widely used name for the same thing. I know I tried "millet," "great millet," "durra," "jowari," and a few other things, but not "sorghum."
Only one correction: in the caveats, it says "vis" instead of "via".