stable foods are the foods we eat regularly and daily to give energy to our bodies just like cars need fuel to function as human we need carbohydrates as the main source of energy to function our bodies eating one kind of staple food does not need all the nutrients we need therefore we need to eat a variety of foods to nourish our bodies let's look at the basic stable food crops around the world cassava is a nutty flavored root vegetable it is the main source of carbohydrate food in latin america the caribbean and africa it must be cooked and mashed to be added to stews or to make breads and chips you can try all these options to replace cassava flour such as wheat flour potato starch tapioca flour and corn flour corn is a staple food throughout the world corn can be eaten by itself as a vegetable or it can be used to produce corn oil corn syrup and corn starch did you know that grits and cornmeal are popular breakfast cereals in some countries just like cornflakes you can always use canned corn with no salt added or frozen corn as an alternative for fresh corn plantains and bananas belong to the same family plantains need to be cooked or processed before eating green plantains are starchy and bland the fully ripened plantains taste just like banana but less sleep if you got no plantains at home you may want to try using green bananas cassava or potatoes to replace plantains in your recipe [Music] potato is a root vegetable that is one of the most consumed crops around the world potatoes are available worldwide and all year long did you know that rice is a staple food for more than half of the world's population [Music] salgum is the most popular grain in the west african country of guinea it is also used to make breads and a sweet syrup eighty percent of the soy in the world is produced in the united states brazil and argentina soy products such as soy beverage tofu and meat substitutes are introduced in many countries because of their health benefits potatoes are starchy root vegetables that are grown worldwide they come in a variety of sizes and colors such as orange white and purple they are all rich in nutrients sixty-five percent of the wheat harvested is used to protect foods the majority of breads are made with wheat flour and wheat is also used in pasta breakfast syrups and noodles yams are a stable food in west africa yams are commonly peeled boiled and make into a pulp as a dough it can be eaten as fufu which is a gelatinous dough fifu can be made from other food sources like cassava and plantains