Opinion | This Grain Should Be the Next Quinoa

In 1999, Ruth Reichl, then the editor in chief of Gourmet, asked me if I would travel around Ethiopia, the country of my birth, with a writer for the magazine.I hadn’t been back since my Swedish parents adopted me when I was about 2 years old, and when the plane touched down there, I was overcome with emotion.Everything was both unfamiliar and yet so comfortable.

My first time walking through the open-air market in the capital, Addis Ababa, the sights and smells of spices, herbs and grains overwhelmed me.I picked up a handful of millet and wondered how toasting it might bring out its earthiness, or how slow-cooking it in a rich broth could make it creamy like risotto.

This was the start of a decades-long obsession with the foods of my ancestors and my attempts to bring them into my home and onto my menus.In the years since my trip, climate change has made it far more difficult to grow food in many parts of Africa (and beyond).Months of heavy rain and flooding have battered East African farmland, while blazing heat and drought in southern Africa have left farmers with little to harvest.But a handful of African grains are well suited to difficult planting conditions.

Millet, sorghum and teff are delicious, nutritious and quick to grow, even after natural disasters.Pearl millet, a staple throughout sub-Saharan Africa, can grow in both waterlogged and barren soil.

Teff is an ancient grain used in injera bread that provides up to two-thirds of Ethiopia’s protein and dietary fiber.It can regrow even after extreme drought.

Fonio, a grain from West Africa, is part of the millet family.It’s rich in iron, B vitamins and calcium.

More than that, it sprouts quickly and can thrive in almost any type of soil with relatively little water.As climate change threatens the availability of global staples like wheat, rice and potatoes, we must diversify what’s on the plate.And not just for our own consumption.

Crops such as millet, teff and fonio can provide a lifeline fo...