As I was having breakfast this morning,(Saturday) I was listening to a program on radio about the smoothie health craze where one blends certain fruit or vegetable items and drinks that as a meal. I remember an ex boss of mine stopped having lunch with us and would drink a blended concoction of celery and a couple of other veggies I cannot remember. It appeared that from the tone of the radio program - I had missed the first 10-15 mins - while most people promoted this "drink your meal concentrate," form of nutrition, some scientists said that they were not convinced that it was not without its issues. For one thing they said that sugars and allergens in certain fruit would be consumed in a more concentrated form.
This discussion got me thinking about our own food culture in my country. Generally most people here prefer a simple meal of a starch food item, some simply prepared vegetables and a meat (For many Africans, "no meat no eat" is a widely held mindset). A healthy balanced diet is not really on the minds of the vast majority of people and smoothies would certainly not catch on as healthy and fast alternative. I suppose that in poor communities having a regular meal is the top priority.
Culturally the evening mealtime is one where the entire family can get together and eat, but in most families the children eat separately from the parents. The father and any other men of the household get to be served first - a cultural practice that I strongly detest. Then the women serve themselves and the children. This is not exactly how I was raised. My parents made sure we ate together and we were served first. However when visiting some of our more tradition relatives this was not the case. My brother and I would find ourselves herded like sheep into a kitchen with other children and two bowls of food were set before us. One had a maize (corn) meal based staple called "sadza" and the other had a mixture of green leafy vegetables, like cabbage or something else with some bits of beef in there....somewhere. We all ate from the same two bowls. We would have to wash hands thoroughly and sit down to a meal with these other kids (we were about 7 and 8 at the time) and soon realized that we had to be quick or we'll end up hungry. With a limited among of meat in the other bowl it became a race.
This practice is not as common now as it was back then, but its still the way food is done in rural areas which still hold more than half the population. Breakfast is not regarded as the most important meal in these households. So many people just get up, have some tea and head off to work,taking the time to find something to snack on at 10am on their short tea break.
I suppose what I can observe from our own food practices (the ones generally held by most of our population) are:
Do you have a staple?
How important are mealtimes?
Would the liquid food craze work for you?
Any cultural practices/ traditions that you follow.
It doesn't have to be detailed. I think I kind of got carried away, because now I'm thinking of lunch.
This discussion got me thinking about our own food culture in my country. Generally most people here prefer a simple meal of a starch food item, some simply prepared vegetables and a meat (For many Africans, "no meat no eat" is a widely held mindset). A healthy balanced diet is not really on the minds of the vast majority of people and smoothies would certainly not catch on as healthy and fast alternative. I suppose that in poor communities having a regular meal is the top priority.
Culturally the evening mealtime is one where the entire family can get together and eat, but in most families the children eat separately from the parents. The father and any other men of the household get to be served first - a cultural practice that I strongly detest. Then the women serve themselves and the children. This is not exactly how I was raised. My parents made sure we ate together and we were served first. However when visiting some of our more tradition relatives this was not the case. My brother and I would find ourselves herded like sheep into a kitchen with other children and two bowls of food were set before us. One had a maize (corn) meal based staple called "sadza" and the other had a mixture of green leafy vegetables, like cabbage or something else with some bits of beef in there....somewhere. We all ate from the same two bowls. We would have to wash hands thoroughly and sit down to a meal with these other kids (we were about 7 and 8 at the time) and soon realized that we had to be quick or we'll end up hungry. With a limited among of meat in the other bowl it became a race.
This practice is not as common now as it was back then, but its still the way food is done in rural areas which still hold more than half the population. Breakfast is not regarded as the most important meal in these households. So many people just get up, have some tea and head off to work,taking the time to find something to snack on at 10am on their short tea break.
I suppose what I can observe from our own food practices (the ones generally held by most of our population) are:
- Children ate separately from Adults and men were always served first. This usually meant that men usually had the best portions of meat etc... because "they were the ones who were working."
- Young children ate together from the same dish (usually away for the adults - and definitely away from the man/men) so the dinnertime interaction was lost.
- Young children eating together was supposed to be a lesson in sharing, mutual respect and consideration. Quite often this was not the case. The older children pulled rank once mom walked away. Yet as siblings they tended to remain close as they grew up.
- "There is no hurry in Africa" is a maxim that can easily be applied to mealtimes. So the convenience of quick meals like minute noodles and microwave dinners (which are available) are not really sought after. Perhaps this is because life is not as frantically paced as many other countries in the West.
- A slightly overweight person is considered "healthy" - This actually means "well fed" which is seen as an indicator of a life where ones needs are being met and they are not overly stressed. This of course, is a myth.
- "Healthy eating" and a more holistic approach to the place of food in our lives has simply not caught on.
Do you have a staple?
How important are mealtimes?
Would the liquid food craze work for you?
Any cultural practices/ traditions that you follow.
It doesn't have to be detailed. I think I kind of got carried away, because now I'm thinking of lunch.