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Comment by emmelaich | Hacker News Reader

It still amazes me that potatoes and tomatoes, originally South America only, have become a food staple in just about every country since.

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Well, there is also:

  Rice --domesticated in China
  Corn --Mexico
  Wheat --Middle east

These are now pretty universal and are more important than either Tomatoes or Potatoes.

Fertile Crescent* not Middle East. The Middle East is not really an agreed upon fixed set of places, theres a not-insigifnicant variance in how one can describe it.

True but irrelevant, as I've yet to see a definition of either that did not include Mesopotamia/Iraq.

Cassava too, native to South America, a staple food or costaple in much of Africa especially in drought susceptible parts like sub-Sahara.

Its also quite important to many parts of Asia.

Edit: the impact of the columbian exchange on the world doesnt get enough attention.

(Video for columbian exchange cassava crash course world.history) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQPA5oNpfM4

Chili peppers too.

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