In the study of food biology and agriculture, crops are categorized based on the type of plant they come from and the primary nutrients they provide. The two most important staple food categories in the human diet are Cereals and Pulses.
All pulses are legumes, but not all legumes are pulses. (e.g., Peanuts and Soybeans are legumes but are technically classified as oilseeds, not pulses).
Pulse plants have root nodules containing special bacteria (Rhizobium) that take nitrogen from the air and fix it into the soil, acting as natural fertilizers.
Cereals are the most cultivated crops in the world.
In many cultures, particularly in India, cereals and pulses are eaten together (like Dal-Chawal or Roti-Dal). This is because cereals lack certain amino acids that pulses have, and pulses lack certain amino acids that cereals have. Eating them together provides a 'complete protein' profile, similar to eating meat.
Quinoa is a 'pseudo-cereal'. It is cooked and eaten like a grain, but botanically it belongs to the spinach and beet family, not the grass family.
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