A proper diet?

People who know me in person tell me I can be a little food obsessed. Maybe that's why I own this blog now? Anyways, thinking about food can be very different from worrying about agricultural issues. But it is a close relationship, as top chefs will tell you... or maybe an African farmer?

Many farmers consume some of their produce, it won't constitute the main bulk of their meals. Specialists may grow a cash crop or herd livestock, rather than farm different crops as a source of food for the family. In Africa and other developing nations though, there is more subsistence farming, where the bulk of crops grown is for private consumption, and only the surplus sold to markets. No working means no food (very literally).

Could this put them at risk of nutritional deficiency? African farmers already diversify their crop to cope with climate risks, but could even more diversity in their food supply help build a more nutritious diet?

Everything in moderation.

In terms of protein, plant proteins are usually comparatively lacking in one or more essential amino acids (so called incomplete protein). Research finds that the quantity required of food pairs (for consumption) to meet recommended nutritional intakes is lower than the quantity required from single foods. Apparently, you should have your tomatoes with sweet corn (Mexican food anyone?). And who could have guessed sweet corn and cherry were an item.

Hey I didn't know food pairing was something useful to me. I mean, I'm not a gourmet chef.

Africans tend to grow a selection of hardy crops, or whatever the soils permit, and may not always have the resources to consume meat proteins. Insect protein however, can be a major, or at least complementary source of nutrition. Did you know that (wait, hang on to your seats) 2 billion people around the world regularly eat bugs.

          "Markets in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, boast an abundant            year-round supply of caterpillars, and the average household in Kinshasa eats approximately              300 g of caterpillars per week"

- Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (2013)

Cool things have already popped up in the world of food research. Apparently, Indian food tastes good because it actually combines ingredients and spices that have conflicting flavours. Perhaps it would be nice to actually have someone study food pairings and nutrition in real case studies and contexts.

Personally, I think that when times get tough and crops fail, the last thing on the minds of most people would be food pairing. Could ethical issues be raised if farmers were encouraged to grow a more a balanced and nutritionally complete diet at the expense of calories? What could we do if water availability limits the type of crops grown (see my previous post)? As always, we find no simple answers, even if ideas themselves are at hand.

So there we have it, we need diversity in food, not just for taste, but for health as well. If you thought that was cool let me know in the comments section.



Stay Starchy,
Mr. Cassava


Images used:
Original USDA food pyramid (1992), http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/Fpyr/pyramid.gif
Michael Durr (2009) http://upcomingdiscs.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/oryl-owl-ya-rly.jpg