The lettuce family is another one that doesn’t get used very much in processed foods. Like the carrot family, most of the foods are fairly mild and aren’t ruled out by various health suggestions.

Starting with the top of the plants: The flowers of chamomile are used as a tea or infusion; globe artichokes are immature flower heads and the centers or “hearts” are used as a vegetable; dried safflower flowers are used as a substitute for saffron for coloring foods; and dandelion flowers can be used to make dandelion wine. Sunflower seeds are used for eating and making seed oil, and niger and safflower are also used to make seed oil.

Leaves of different plants in this family are used in various ways. Lettuces are unassertive and are used in all types of salads. Belgian endives / chicory, radicchio, curly endives, escarole, edible chrysanthemums, and dandelion leaves are more bitter and are either used in smaller amounts in salads or cooked to mellow their flavor. Tarragon has fragrant leaves and is used as a herb. Stevia, or sugar-leaf, has very sweet leaves and is used as a sweetener — this is the only food in the family that is regularly processed. Essential oils from the leaves of absinthe/wormwood used to be used to make the liqueur absinthe.

The stalks of cardoons are used in Italian cookery. The roots of burdock/gobo, scorzonera / black salsify, and jerusalem artichokes / sunchokes are used as vegetables in some cooking traditions — they tend to give many people gas because of the type of carbohydrate they contain, an oligosaccharide called inulin. Chichory roots are used to make a coffee substitute, and dandelion roots have also been used for this.

Most food plants in this family originated in Europe and Asia; sunflowers and jerusalem artichokes are indigenous to North America, stevia is indigenous to South America, and niger seeds originated in Ethiopia. Some have been cultivated for thousands of years.

Lettuce is a common ingredient in foods for diets as it is very low in calories and doesn’t contain fat, and is relatively cheap. Weight loss and health diets don’t usually rule out foods in this family, apart from the roots during early stages of low-carbohydrate diets. But people who don’t like to eat greens might avoid lettuce and other foods in this family. People with certain types of IBS avoid the leaves in the family to avoid diarrhea, although as with most leaves the fiber they contain may help regulate bowel movements in other people.

Many of these foods aren’t used widely. Neophobes don’t like to try new or unfamiliar foods, so unless they’ve grown up with them they’re unlikely to want to try to them. Many of the foods here are also expensive, so people on a restricted budget are unlikely to buy them. People who don’t like bitter foods will avoid a lot of the leaves in the family, and people who tend to get gas may avoid the roots.

Do you avoid any foods in this family? Why?

Resources:
Food Plants of the World: An Illustrated Guide — Lots of historical and current information on food plant usage, and photos of the plants and the parts used for food.

Foods in the carrot family are often cooked together, as they have complementary flavors. Some people don’t like the strong flavors, but in most cases people don’t have issues with foods in this family.

Roots eaten include carrot, parsnip, and celery root/celeriac. Stems that are used include celery, angelica, and the swollen bulb-like stem base of fennel/anise. Many of the foods in this family are used as herbs for the flavor of their leaves, including dill, chervil, cilantro/coriander, lovage, cicely, and parsley. The seeds of many plants in this family are also used — look closely at the seeds of coriander, cumin, caraway, dill, fennel, and anise, and you’ll see similar ridges down the length of the seed. The oil from anise seeds is used to flavor liqueurs. Gum from the stem and root of asafetida is used in some cuisines — it has a pungent, sulfur-like smell that brings out flavors in the same way that onions do. Some plants are used for multiple parts — cilantro/coriander leaves, stems, and roots are all used in Thai cooking, and the leaves and roots of parsley root (which is slightly different than parsley) are both used.

Food plants in this family originated in southern Europe and Central Asia, and many of them have been eaten for thousands of years. Carrots used to be tough, woody, and purple — even 100 years ago, when sweet orange carrots had been developed, recipes called for them to be cooked for an hour after the woody center had been removed.

Many of these plants are considered by some people and cultures to have mild pharmacological properties, especially for digestive issues and reducing gas. In many parts of South Asia, fennel seeds are chewed after meals to help with digestion.

Most people do not have specific problems with foods in this family. Some are put off by the strong smells of some of the foods, particularly the seeds. There are many people who just don’t like eating vegetables — they might eat carrots if they’re dressed up enough, but would avoid most other foods in the family. Most diets don’t even bother to mention foods in this family, although low-carb diets may suggest avoiding the roots in this family in early stages of the diet, and celery is a popular diet food because it’s so low in calories. It’s relatively rare for people to have extreme reactions to these foods, such as allergies or food intolerances.

What do you think of foods in this family, and are there any that you avoid?

Resources:
Food Plants of the World: An Illustrated Guide — Lots of historical and current information on food plant usage, and photos of the plants and the parts used for food.

Cows, sheep, and related animals are designed to eat grass. The enzymes, acids and microbes in their four stomachs can digest the cellulose in the green stuff that makes up your lawn. We humans, on the other hand, can’t eat regular grass. However, we can eat parts of certain foods in the grass family. We eat the seeds, or grain, of some members of this family — wheat, corn/maize, rice, oats, rye, millet, teff, wild rice, and others. They are also known as cereals; hundreds of years ago in the UK, all cereals were referred to as “corn” and the name ended up sticking with a new grain that came from the new world. Note that quinoa and buckwheat aren’t officially cereal grains — they’re from other families. The stalks of other members of the grass family are used — sugar, bamboo, and lemongrass.

Mature grains contain all the elements needed for a new plant to grow. The germ (as in wheatgerm, not as in germs that make you sick) is the lifesource of the plant. It contains vitamins and minerals and fat — the central nourishment of the seed. The main part of the seed, the endosperm, is the carbohydrate source that gives it the energy to grow. The bran or outer shell, also known as the husk, protects the seed and is mainly fiber. We don’t eat these seeds raw, because for humans they’re generally indigestible when raw. We usually eat them cooked, or sprouted.

The ancestors of wheat, einkorn and emmer, were domesticated in the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East. Maize, or corn, was developed from wild grasses in Mexico. Rice originated in Asia. These important grains were brought into agriculture around 10,000 years ago, independently from each other. Grains were probably sometimes eaten in small amounts before the beginnings of agriculture — archaeologists recently discovered what they believe are 11,000 year old granaries at Dhra in Jordan. In parts of Africa, wild grasses are still collected for food, especially in times of scarcity. The seeds may have been first recognized as foods after wildfires — when toasted they smell sweet. Think about it — when people decide to settle down to farm, they’re unlikely to suddenly decide to grow something they’ve never eaten before! The original plants probably had very small grains, and were selectively bred for larger seeds. They’re used whole (eg rice), or broken up (eg. bulgur wheat), or milled to make flour. They may also be used to make “milks” such as oat milk, and they can be fermented to make alcoholic drinks including bourbon and beer. As we moved from being hunter-gatherers to farmers, these little-used seeds became a major food source, as they can be stored for a long time and used in times of need, and they’re a pretty easy way to get a lot of energy.

As a prominent source of carbohydrates, grains are worshipped and demonized. They used to be literally worshipped — Demeter was the ancient Greek goddess of grains, fertility and agriculture. Nowadays, many health specialists strongly recommend whole grains. Refined grains have been used for thousands of years — in Roman times the physician Galen describes three types of bread: bread made with refined flour (which probably still contained the germ — he calls this “pure” bread), wholegrain bread, and bread made mainly from bran, which tends to pass through you rather quickly. Whole grains come in and out of fashion — they were popular among Kellogg, Post, and other people looking for healthy foods in the late 19th Century. They went out of fashion during the highly-processed 1950s, then back in the 1970s and again in the current years. There were also low-carb trends in the 1970s and again in recent years, when grains including whole grains were avoided by large numbers of people in the West.

Foods made with refined grains (white wheat flour, rice flour, etc) can be addictive for some people. There are various theories about why this should be the case. One theory is that some of the grain proteins, including gluten proteins in wheat, break down into smaller proteins that include opioids, and these make us want more of the same. Of course, alcohols made with grains are also addictive for many people.

About 1 in 111 people in the West have celiac disease — an autoimmune disease that causes the body to attack itself when the trigger foods in the wheat family are eaten. These foods include wheat (including couscous, semolina and bulgur), rye, barley (including malt), spelt, kamut, triticale, and einkorn. Some people are also affected by oats. Other people are gluten intolerant — they have other reactions to the gluten in these foods that won’t cause their bodies to attack themselves, but may cause unpleasant symptoms. These may include exhaustion, depression, headaches, and eczema. Note that any food that is eaten constantly, several times a day, may trigger a sensitivity. People in countries that eat a lot of wheat are more likely to become sensitized to wheat when they have cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and pasta for dinner. People in rice-eating countries may become sensitive to rice, for the same reasons.

People with certain types of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) may be intolerant of whole grains — it appears that the insoluble fibers irritate their bowel lining.

Other foods in the grass family are also eaten. The major one is sugar. Sugar cane is grown for the sugary juice in the stems of the grass, which grows up to 19ft/6m tall and 2″/5cm diameter — imagine that when you’re mowing your lawn! White sugar, brown sugar, sugar syrup, molasses, rum and cachaca are all from this grass. Funnily enough, sugar is also addictive for some people.

Bamboo is another huge grass with a thick stem. The tender inner part of the stem of some species of bamboo is used for food in east and southeast Asia.

Lemongrass is used as a flavoring in southeast Asian cooking — this is one where the name of the food gives it away as being part of the family!

What are your food choices when it comes to foods in the grass family?

Resources:
Food Plants of the World: An Illustrated Guide — Lots of historical and current information on food plant usage, and photos of the plants and the parts used for food.
Dangerous Grains: Why Gluten Cereal Grains May Be Hazardous To Your Health — Extremely enthusiastic explanation of why wheat and other cereal grains may be bad for you.
Farming in Prehistory: From Hunter-Gatherer to Food-Producer — Explanation of how humans moved from hunting/gathering to horticulture to agriculture.
Galen: On the Properties of Foodstuffs — This Roman doctor/nutritionist’s rules for eating and health were used for nearly 2,000 years.
Food Addiction: The Body Knows: Revised & Expanded Edition — What is food addiction, addictive foods, and managing your addiction.
Celiac Disease (Revised and Updated Edition): A Hidden Epidemic — Scientific explanation of celiac disease and how to manage it, by the Director of the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University.
— Irritable Bowel Solutions: The Essential Guide to Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Its Causes and Treatments — Breakdown of different types of IBS by leading UK authority on food intolerance and irritable bowel syndrome.

Foods grow up in families. At the highest level (called a kingdom), the family may be animals, or plants, or fungi, or bacteria.The food families are divided into smaller and smaller groups, so we can see how they’re related to each other. How is this relevant to food choices?

Botanical relatives may have more than just physical features in common. They may also show similar nutrient profiles, the ability to trigger the same allergic or intolerant reaction, and other invisible characteristics.

Some examples of food families: Mammals, a subgroup of the animals kingdom, all nourish their young on mother’s milk, and they’re warm blooded. A subset of mammals is hoofed animals, including cows, sheep, goats, pigs, and deer. Green plants, in the Plant kingdom, stay in one place and get most of their energy from sunlight. One relatively small subset of this group is umbellifers, including carrots, parsley, cumin, fennel, parsnip, and celery. They have hollow stems, tend to have fleshy roots, and often have aromatic leaves. A few foods such as salt are minerals — they’re not biological, and belong to a different system.

These family groupings were first described in the 18th century, when Carl Linnaeus and others laid out the foundations of taxonomy (the practice and science of classification) and traveled the world categorizing everything they laid eyes on. The natural world is divided up in the way that made the most sense to the early scientists, based on visual characteristics. The divisions aren’t necessarily accurate reflections of how different species developed, and nowadays genetic testing can be done to give us a much better idea of how different parts of the natural world could be related to each other.

The original categories were put together by scientists from around the world who relied on an occasional ship to send and receive information, and on societies with small memberships to spread knowledge. Sometimes the same plant or animal collected a bunch of different names and families — it can be confusing that some plants and animals may look radically different depending on their growing conditions, which makes classification more difficult. For example, oysters are differentiated not by their species but by the names of the places where they grow, because that’s the easiest way to recognize them.

The food families are probably fairly accurate and can meet our needs of finding related foods, even if they’re not perfect. Look at a scorpion and a lobster. Scorpions are in the same phylum, Arthropods (a subset of the animal kingdom), as lobsters and shrimps. If you’re allergic to shellfish but an extremely adventurous eater, you should be careful trying scorpions in case you have a reaction to them.

Some health and weight loss diets advise for and against eating from certain food families. For example, some people with arthritis avoid foods from the nightshade family, including tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplant/aubergines. The alliums, the family containing onions and garlic, are viewed as a good food by many specialists.

Are there any food families that you avoid or eat a lot of? Why?

Resources:
Food Plants of the World: An Illustrated Guide — Lots of historical and current information on food plant usage, and photos of the plants and the parts used for food.
An Introduction to Plant Taxonomy — A brief but thorough look at the history and practices of classifying plants
Food Allergies and Food Intolerance: The Complete Guide to Their Identification and Treatment — Detailed description of food allergies and intolerances and how to identify and treat them. Includes useful lists such as food families and hidden ingredients.