are plants of the grass family whose seeds are used as food grains; they are named from the Roman corn goddess Ceres. Cereals include wheat, rice, barley, oats, rye, maize, millet, and sorghum, all of which have been used as food since prehistoric times, and cultivated since antiquity.
Mangelsdorf (1953) has given an eloquent description of their importance:
When he domesticated wheat, man laid the foundations of western civilization. No civilization worthy of the name has ever been founded on any agricultural basis other than the cereals. The ancient cultures of Babylonia and Egypt, of Rome and Greece, and later those of northern and western Europe, were all based upon the growing of wheat, barley, rye and oats. Those of India, China and Japan had rice for their basic crop. The pre-Columbian peoples of America—Inca, Maya and Aztec—looked to corn [maize] for their daily bread.
Although the cereal grains constitute the world's most important single class of food, and provide protein of good quality, this protein is ‘incomplete’; it generally lacks just one essential amino acid, lysine, which is easily supplied by small amounts of pulses or animal foods. Thus in regions where cereals make up a very large part of diet—and in much of the Orient 90% of food energy comes from cereals such as rice—nutrition is reasonably balanced, a result which could hardly be achieved with any other single kind of food, except perhaps potatoes. Even in western countries, where a more varied diet including far more animal food is eaten, cereals play an important part. In a typical British diet one-third of the energy and one-third of the protein come from cereals.
Many cereals are eaten as cooked grains, often in the form of porridge. Virtually all are made into flours which can be used to bake bread etc.
A few plants of other families provide seeds resembling those of cereals and used in the same way, and are sometimes included informally in that category. These include amaranth, chia, buckwheat, and quinoa.
See also five grains of China. Breakfast cereals are also described separately.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
Kahn, E. J., Jr (1985), The Staffs of Life, Boston: Little Brown.
Mangelsdorf, Paul C. (1953), ‘Wheat’, Scientific American.
Sokolov, Raymond (1996), With the Grain, New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
