Dec. 6, 2025

📚️Reading:Level N4/5:The world's staple foods Staple Foods of the World *Beginner to Intermediate Japanese Listening practice

Staple Foods of the World

【Summary】

Staple foods around the world can be broadly divided into rice, wheat, and corn, and each region has its own main staple. In Asia, people eat rice; in Europe and the United States, bread is common; in Mexico, tortillas are a staple; in Italy, pasta is the main staple; and in Ireland, potatoes are widely eaten.
Japan and Korea use rice as their staple food and have a culture of eating it together with many kinds of side dishes.

In the past, rice was valuable in Japan, and cooking it required careful control of the fire when using an iron pot. A traditional song even describes how to cook rice well.
Today, electric rice cookers make it easy, but rice cooked in a pot—like when camping—is said to be especially delicious.


Staple Foods of the World

http://www17408ui.sakura.ne.jp/tatsum/project/Yomimono/Yomimono-ippai/yomimono/PDF_level_2/R_L2_Staple_diet_in_the_world.pdf

*The main site for this reading 「よみものいっぱい」
http://www17408ui.sakura.ne.jp/tatsum/project/Yomimono/Yomimono-ippai/index.html


◆ Listener Questions

1.What is your staple food?

2.Does your country or family have a dish that you eat every day?

3.What delicious staple-food dish have you eaten while traveling?

4.Besides rice, wheat, and corn, do you know any other staple foods?

5.Have you ever eaten that food?

6.How many meals do you eat in a day?

7.In Japanese cuisine, do you have a favorite combination of a staple food and a side dish?


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