The forest not only hides man's enemies but it’s full of man's medicine, healing power and food. ~African Proverb.
Africa is a continent that is rich and diverse in terms of culture and traditions. The continent is also considered to be the agricultural hub in the world. Due to this, most of African culture is ultimately intertwined with the foodstuffs that the land has to offer. In general, most of the inhabitants of Africa live within the rural areas and rely on subsistent farming to meet their day to day food needs. Fast food restaurants and supermarkets where processed and packaged food is sold are usually frowned upon and considered a waste of money and resources (AIG, 2011).
CHARACTERISTICS OF AFRICAN FOOD
African foods are bountiful and diverse. They are rich in nutritional fiber and often unrefined and they offer a healthy choice when consumed in the right blend. Most African recipes are based around ingredients and spices that are natural and can be easily farmed or produced at a subsistence level. Most African foods do not contain refined sugars and processed additives and are mainly starch based, with generous amounts of fresh vegetables and proteins found in fish or beef (AIG, 2011).
The typical African, whether in a rural farming community or in the bustling city environment, takes great care to see that meals are properly served and eaten. Great attention is also given to how the meals are prepared and what are its constituents.
However, due to the effects of globalization, modern African cuisine and cooking draws upon an assortment of ethnic traditions merged with the seasonings and tastes of outside countries (AIG, 2011). In general, European explorers and traders introduced several important food staples to t...
... middle of paper ...
...African culture encompassed food as a part of their traditions and way of life not only as a source of nutrition but also as a source for medicine to heal common ailments and seek favor from God through offerings. Modern day African culture has however been permeated and has incorporated many other traditions and methods of preparation from other countries. This does not however mean that it has been completely eroded, and many parts of Africa still consume indigenous foods that they get through subsistence farming for their individual nutritional needs.
REFERENCES
AIG, A. I. (2011). The Savoury Taste of Ethnic Food. available at http://www.kenya-information-guide.com/africa-food.html retrieved on 9-11-11 at 5:30 pm.
WHO, W. H. (2008). Tradtional Medicine. available at http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs134/en/ retrieved on 9-11-11 at 10:30 pm.
Selection of Book: There were numerous purposes and objectives as to why I chose to read this particular anthropology manuscript of all the various other options available. For one, I selected this book initially due to the title of the book. “Dancing Skeleton” was the portion of the title that primarily stuck out to me, and made me imagine African children – who we see on commercials all the time in third world countries, which tend to look malnourished all throughout their adolescents – dancing around with skin-wrapped skeletal bones. Personally, for me, seeing children suffering from malnourishment and starvation must be one of the most unbearably agonizing pains a child can go through, not to mention the suffering of a mother having to watching her child gradually starve to death. I was additionally very much interested in understanding precisely what other individuals in different parts of the world and specifically Mali, are lacking that is affecting their health and well-being so noticeably. Furthermore, I was especially interested is reading informal stories and accounts through the eyes of the author about conducting specified field research on infant feeding and the importance of children
Mintz, Sidney W. Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom: Excursions into Eating, Culture, and the Past. Boston: Beacon Press, 1996. [secondary source]
Africa is the world’s poorest inhabited continent, with more than one third of its residents living on less than a comparative US dollar per day. Africa is often stereotyped as poor, overpopulated, and uncivilized. Africa is commonly interpreted as one united land mass rather than multiple independent nations. Africa’s limited use of technology, agriculture and market based economy, and independent self-governing prior to independence have made gathering data on the continent difficult. Africa as a whole has little data collected about its past and as a result many studies conducted and published refer to the continent as a whole rather than referring to individual nations.
Four different people, four different lifestyles, all with at least one thing in common—their races (or so we have yet to discover). I began my interviews wanting to show the similarities and differences in eating habits and traditions with the African American perspective in mind. Although race is used as the combining factor in this situation, each individual’s lifestyle, cultural behavior, and even eating habits are all very unique. My interviewees consisted of four Americans, as mentioned before all of same race, with similar yet very distinct backgrounds. They range from a black Jew, to a “Jamerican,” to what I would call a “traditional southerner”, right on down to a modern day Muslim. They all agreed to fill me in and reveal to others the details of their personal history and family backgrounds. Geography, family tradition, and religion all play factors in what they eat as it always has dating back to ancestral times. I began with “JJ Alex;” a 20 year old African American male from the east coast. He is a middle class college student. JJ Alex sounds like your typical college student but he is far from typical. What singles him out from many of his other peers is his religion. You might ask, “How would his religion relate to his eating lifestyle unless he’s a Muslim?” “He couldn’t possibly be Jewish—or could he?” A black Jew—better known as a Seventh Day Holiness. His great grandfather was a Rabbi and the basic teachings in his religion are as followed: his faith believes the Sabbath (day of rest) to begin at sunset on Friday lasting until sunset on Saturday; some worshippers wear Yarmulke; his faith also follows the Old Testament of the Bible; and they wear the Star of David.
Of African origin are such specialities as gumbo and pralines, West Indian callaloo and duckandoo (a dish of greens and a dessert based on sweet potatoes), the Brazilian condiments dende oil and spicy hot sauces. Jamaica's bammy bread and the pan bread so beloved in the southern United States are both said to have their origin in the flat round cassava breads typical of Africa. Seeds and the plants of sesame, okra, some melons, and certain varieties of greens as well as yams, together with many techniques of bread making, and the use and combination of spices, are also all credited to the ingenuity of the African cook.
The book The No-Nonsense Guide to World Food, by Wayne Roberts introduces us to the concept of “food system”, which has been neglected by many people in today’s fast-changing and fast-developing global food scene. Roberts points out that rather than food system, more people tend to recognize food as a problem or an opportunity. And he believes that instead of considering food as a “problem”, we should think first and foremost about food as an “opportunity”.
Now we all know that Africa is some of the most fertile, lush land in the world. Africa abounds with game and almost any type of fruit and berries imaginable. The actual deserts in Africa are quite small, and those images of starving African Negroes you see on your TV is only a very tiny portion of Africa's vast abundance. Any geography professor will tell you this, and they will tell you it has been like this for millennia.
"History of and Variation in Peruvian Cuisine." YUM A Taste of Immigrant City. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2014.
Being that Africans came from diverse regions and communities, they were able to adapt their cultures to the influences, resources, and severe
Food documentaries such as Cooked, center themselves around food. While it might impact the viewing of the documentary. Pop culture doesn’t affect Cooked in the same way other “culinary-obsession movies” do (Gleiberman, 2002, p. 62). The way pop culture affects food also changes from region to region. Where the audience is affects what food is chosen to ‘‘define inclusion and encourage discipline, solidarity, and the maintenance of social boundaries’’ (Goode, 1992, p. 234). This makes it difficult to find something to connect all the cultures and areas around the world. Each area of the world has different resources available and a different way to go about using those resources. The one thing all those areas and cultures have in common is the impact brought by
What is culture, one might ask? According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, culture is the “customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group or the characteristic features of everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life} shared by people in a place or time” (Culture). Five major characteristics that define a culture include culture is learned, culture is shared, culture is symbolic, culture is all-encompassing, and culture is integrated. Culture depends on the human capacity for cultural learning that encompasses shared rules for conduct and that are dependent upon symbols. Cultures can be integrated by using “social and economic forces, core values, and key symbols” (Mirror for Humanity, 2002). This essay will elaborate on the physical geography and military history of Sub-Saharan Africa, an analysis of its weather, and an overview of the ASCOPE acronym.
The accessibility of the Mediterranean diet in the south of Benin is quite questionable. Expensive food is available but many people are not willing to sell food people eat just from time to time. So Mediterranean food is difficult to find and allow the region’s food to be sold almost everywhere.
In many African customs theirs rituals, sacrifices, ancestors worship and rites of passage. African religions emphasize maintaining a harmonious relationship with the divine powers, and their rituals attempt to harness cosmic powers and channel them for good. Ritual is the means by
The movie “The Hundred Foot Journey” is a great representation of different cultures interacting as well as the different food habits. The movie is based on an Indian family who moves to Italy and wants to open an Indian restaurant across street from a famous Italian restaurant in the small town. The Kadam family wants to bring the Indian cuisine to a new culture and share some of their values. They have trouble expanding their culinary delights to the public because Marquerite the sous-chef doesn’t want any competition. Throughout the movie, secrets on certain dishes are shared and tricks to improve the certain style of food is greatly appreciated by both restaurant chefs.
Globalization has influenced almost each aspect of life in almost every nation. From economic to social to culture, this widespread exchange of goods, services and ideas have affected changes around the world. Even though the cultural influence in globalization is of slight significance to policy makers, its power has tremendous consequences to the nations involved and its people. Food is the oldest global carrier of culture.” Any changes in the foods that we eat, in its preparation, the way it is served and consumed diminishes the traditional beliefs of the people.