Minecraft has a few crops that you need to put some effort into finding:

• Melons can be found in jungles or in dungeons, but are required for healing/damage potions

• Pumpkins can be found fairly rarely in the wild, or in dungeons. They can be turned into one of the better food sources, and are required for both flavors of golems. You can also turn them into Jack O' Lanterns or wear them as enderman defense.

♦ Potatoes can be found rarely from zombies or from villagers, and are one of the best food sources for the amount of effort required to farm them.

• Carrots can be found in the same places, and can be made into golden carrots. These have the highest saturation value in the game, and can be used to make night vision/invisibility potions.

Now let's compare this to beetroots. They can be found from villagers, in dungeon chests, or in end cities. Tackling an end city is one of Minecraft's biggest challenges, and has the best rewards.

For your effort you get a non-stackable food source that can't be made in the pocket crafting grid. Being able to craft solid food on the go is the biggest redeeming factor of mushroom soup.

You also get another source of the most common dye in the game. Poppies are the most common flower, tied with dandelions. Most biomes spawn those two flowers exclusively. You can turn one bonemeal into two red dye by bonemealing a rose bush. You can also get poppies from iron golems.

It's only useful as a food source if you're in a pinch, and if you're putting effort into getting it you've probably already obtained a good food source by that point. You absolutely have if you're raiding end cities.

Why are these a rare crop exactly?