Technical Abstract: Sorghum and pearl millet are important staples to millions of people world-wide. The use of these cereals in the developed world has been primarily restricted to animal feed and little work has been done to evaluate them in industrial food systems. Recent work has suggested that these cereals possess unique characteristics that have both nutritional and functional properties that lend themselves to the development of healthy, nutritious foods. Both cereals are gluten-free, have unique phenolic compounds, which are being identified as having medicinal properties and contain proteins and starch characteristics that lend themselves to functional food uses that may impact health. Africans and Asians have used these cereals in traditional food products, but are now beginning to explore their uses in industrial settings. Both developed and developing countries have similar problems in using these two crops for high-end food systems. These problems are the foundation that keeps the "technology bridge" from collapsing as research is moved to market development. These foundations are a stable, reliable source of relatively inexpensive high quality grain and new market development in the case of Africa and Asia. Without these basic requirements, development of new food markets for sorghum or pearl millet will be extremely difficult.