Staple

Etymology

The “staple food” sense comes from Middle Dutch and Low German "stapel" (storehouse, market); a medieval staple was the chief commodity traded at a market town, hence a basic, essential good. It is unrelated to the metal fastener, which comes from Old English "stapol" (a post).

noun · /STAY-pul/
A basic foodstuff eaten regularly and in large amounts, forming the foundation of a diet — rice, wheat, potatoes, maize.
What it names
The handful of cheap, storable foods that anchor a cuisine and, historically, whole civilizations.
Example
Rice is the staple across much of Asia, appearing at nearly every meal.
Related idea
The near-opposite of terroir in spirit: a staple prizes cheap, interchangeable abundance, while terroir prizes the singular flavor of one particular place.
noun · /STAY-pul/
A small U-shaped metal fastener driven through paper or into wood to hold things together.
What it names
a fastening device
Example
She fixed the pages together with a single staple.
Related idea
A wholly separate word from the food sense despite the identical spelling.