Tracy V. Wilson, HowStuffWorks.com
Even if you've never boarded a plane, you've probably seen the checkerboard pattern of wheat fields from high above in movies or on TV. It's not just that this nutrient-packed grass makes a pretty backdrop -- it's one of the biggest food crops in the world.
Where Wheat Comes From
Wheat probably got its start in southwestern Asia. It's one of the oldest crops on Earth -- archaeologists have found 9,000-year-old samples of a wheatlike ancestor in what is now Iraq. If you live in the United States, you might think of wheat as a product of Kansas, but most of the world's wheat grows in Asia.
What Makes Wheat, Wheat
All kinds of menaces, from blight to bugs, can ruin a wheat crop -- but this is one resilient grass. It thrives in windswept plains that aren't warm or wet enough for the world's other big food crops: corn and rice.
What Wheat Begat
People have turned wheat into bread, pasta, couscous, cake, cookies, tortillas and the occasional beer. But its most infamous derivative isn't edible at all. One of the world's first descriptions of a crop circle was in an 1880 issue of the journal Nature -- John Rand Capron wrote of a series circles in a field of wheat.
The Surprising Thing About Wheat
Wheat might inspire you to chow down on the nearest slice of bread or hunk of cake, but it inspired Vincent Van Gogh to paint. He created at least 40 paintings featuring wheat.
Nonedible Wheat in the Age of The Jetsons
Since it's a renewable resource, wheat can be a greener option for lots of other products. Down the road, people might do everything from wrapping their leftovers to scooping their cat litter with replacements made from wheat.
