The Gift of the New World (Americas) to the Old World

Can you imagine that just around 500 years ago, more than half of the world did not know about crops such as tomatoes, potatoes, chillies, pineapples, corn, beans, peanuts, avocado, chocolate, vanilla, sunflower, papaya, pumpkin, gourd and even tobacco. Yes, that was the diet of the Old World based around cereal grains and starches along with meats and dairy products before the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492.

Native American food crops

Generally, we undermine the importance of advanced agricultural and horticultural systems that was a feature of pre-Columbian civilizations of the Americas. Almost all of the crops that originated in the New World were domesticated before European incursions. Thus, the New World crops currently grown in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Australasia should be considered as a gift of the native cultures of the Americas to humanity. The diet of the Old World significantly improved by the crops introduced from the New World, the Americas.

I am sharing an amazing article from history.com regarding this here-

https://www.history.com/news/native-american-foods-crops

If you are still curious, i am providing you the link of a documentary, which you can watch to understand the contribution of native american agriculture to the cuisines of the world.

Our cuisine would never have been the same have we not discovered Americas!!