Crops that reached India from the Old World

Coming to the old world, many of the European, African and Middle-east crops found their way to our kitchen. We cannot start our day without tea or coffee, both not from India. Pyaaz (onions) is the pyaar of India but it is paradesi (foreign). Though 2018 is the Indian Year of Millets, they were born in Africa and China. Ladies’ fingers, carrots, cabbages, cucumbers and cauliflowers invaded Indian markets through the foreign airlines long time ago. Here’s where they are from:

Name	Native	Description
Carrot	Central Asia (probably Persia)
Cucumber	West Asia	Grows on most continents. Many different types of cucumber are traded on the global market.
Onion	Uncertain	Likely domesticated worldwide.Food uses of onions date back thousands of years in China, Egypt and Persia.
Radish	Southeast Asia	India, central China, and Central Asia appear to have been secondary centers where differing forms were developed. Radishes enter the historical record in 300 BC.
Cabbage	Europe (UK)	Domesticated somewhere around 1000 BC. By the Middle Ages, cabbage had become a prominent part of European cuisine.
Broccoli	Northern Mediterranean	Since the time of the Roman Empire, broccoli has been commonly consumed among Italians.
Cauliflower	Cyprus	It is found in the writings of the Arab botanists Ibn al-'Awwam and Ibn al-Baitar, in the 12th and 13th centuries.
Tea	Southwest China	Actually, it was used as a medicinal drink. It was popularized as a recreational drink during the Chinese Tang dynasty, and tea drinking spread to other East Asian countries. Portuguese priests and merchants introduced it to Europe during the 16th century.
Okra/ Ladies’ Fingers	Uncertain, probably Ethiopia or Arabia
Coffee	Ethiopia, Sudan, Madagascar, the Comoros, Mauritius, and Réunion in the Indian Ocean
Common Millet	China	It first appears as a crop in both Transcaucasia and China about 7,000 years ago, suggesting it may have been domesticated independently in each area.
Finger Millet	East Africa (Ethiopian and Ugandan highlands)	It was domesticated before the third millennium BC. Its cultivation had spread to South India by 1800 BC.
Pearl Millet	Sahel zone of West Africa	Domesticated between 2500 and 2000 BC.
Garlic	Central Asia and Northeastern Iran	It has long been a common seasoning worldwide, with a history of several thousand years of human consumption and medicinal use. It was found in South Asia by 2300 BC.