Wheat is a globally important source of dietary carbohydrate (starch) and protein (gluten). Its grain is a staple food used to make flour for leavened, flat and steamed breads, biscuits, cookies, cakes, breakfast cereal, pasta, noodles etc and for fermentation to make beer, alcohol, vodka, or biofuel. It is also used for feeding animals to a limited extent.

Different varieties of wheat are grown across the world. The three principal types of wheat used in modern food production are: Triticum vulgare (soft wheat), Triticum durum (hard wheat) and Triticum compactum.