Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
1
Nutritional Anthropology
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Official Publication of the Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition
Volume 28, Number 1-2
Spring-Fall 2006
Competing Discourses on the Political
Economy of Hunger
By Andrea Timmer
University of Iowa
Abstract
In areas in which many of the residents suffer from a
lack of food, the way people speak about hunger and
malnutrition dictate the action (or lack of action) that
will be taken in response to these phenomena. In
Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua there are subtle ways in
which the thinking concerning hunger of professionals involved with the malnourished differs from that
of the malnourished themselves and their families.
Such differences are influential in the perpetuation
of hunger and malnutrition. The discourses engaged
in by professionals – aid workers, health care providers, and school teachers – do not correspond to
the views of people in whose families there are documented cases of malnutrition, and often underplay
(in many cases, even ignore) the political economy
of hunger. This paper argues that the disjunctures
that occur in the discourses of hunger take the spotlight off what is the ultimate root of hunger – namely, the neoliberal policies of the Nicaraguan government.
[hunger, child malnutrition, neoliberal policies,
poverty, Nicaragua]
The Atlantic coast of Nicaragua is a fertile region
with abundant natural food resources. It is also a
region that is marked by high levels of clinically diagnosed malnutrition. The paradox that occurs when
a hungry and malnourished population exists alongside sufficient food resources is not unique to this
region. Nor is this dichotomy a newly recognized
phenomenon. Frances Moore Lappé, author of best-
selling Diet for Small Planet (published first in 1971
with subsequent revisions in 1975, 1982, 1991, and
2002), has built her career on challenging the myth
that hunger is due to worldwide food shortages. In
the most recent installment written in collaboration
with her daughter, Lappé argues,
For every human being on the planet, the world produces two
pounds of grain per day – roughly
Table of Contents
Research Articles
 Competing Discourses on the Political Economy of
Hunger ......................................................Page 1
 A Comparison of Nutritional Indicators from
Bambara and Fulani Girls Born in Paris, France and
in the Segou Region of Mali.........................Page 13
 Social Identity and Food Choice in the Southeastern United States ......................................Page 23
Research Reports
 Evaluation of pastoral livelihood opportunities: a
case of West Pokot Disrict........................Page 38
Book Reviews
 Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences
Nutrition and Health .................................Page 41
 Household Decisions, Gender, and Development;
A Synthesis of Recent Research............... Page 42
 Why Some Like it Hot: Food, Genes, and Cultural
Diversity ...................................................Page 43
President’s Report 2005-06 ...................Page 45
Notes from the Editor ............................Page 46
Officers of the Society for the Anthropology of
Food and Nutrition
Nutritional Anthropology, Vol. 28, Issues 1-2, ISSN 1548-1735, online ISSN copyright 2006 by the
American Anthropology Association. All rights reserved. Send request for permission to reprint to:
Rights and Permissions, University of California Press, Journals Division, 2000 Center Street, Suite
303, Berkeley, CA 94704-1223.
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 26, Number 1-2
2
3,000 calories, and that’s without
even counting all the beans, potatoes, nuts, fruits, and vegetables we
eat, too. This is clearly enough for
all of us to thrive; yet nearly one in
six of us still goes hungry (Lappé
and Lappé 2002:15).
For many scholars and researchers such as Lappé,
hunger and malnutrition are salient categories for
study primarily because they cannot be easily attributed to a lack of food; rather, they are more likely due to an inequitable distribution system (J. Robbins 1992; R. Robbins 1999; Sanchez 2002).
In this paper, I am particularly interested in an aspect
of this phenomenon that I feel has been addressed
inadequately in contemporary literature: namely, the
discourses of hunger and malnutrition engaged in by
those who are most affected either because they
themselves are suffering from malnutrition or because they are in contact with the malnourished in
their daily work as aid workers or health care providers. These discourses emerge among the affected
in efforts to explain how and why hunger occurs and
serve to dictate the action (or lack of action) that will
be undertaken to combat hunger and malnutrition.
In Puerto Cabezas, a city located on the Atlantic
coast of Nicaragua, the discourses that emerged in
my research as most significant were those of aid
workers, health care providers, and school teachers
that 1) did not correspond to the views of people in
whose families there are documented cases of malnutrition, and 2) underplayed (in many cases, even
ignored) the political economy of hunger. In this
paper, I demonstrate that there are subtle differences
in the ways that professionals involved with the
malnourished think compared to mothers and/ or
families of the malnourished that may be influential
in the perpetuation of hunger. I also highlight the
ways that the competition between the maternal and
professional discourses takes attention away from
what I deem the ultimate root of hunger – namely,
the neoliberal politics of the Nicaraguan government.
Methodologies
I conducted research in the city of Puerto Cabezas,
Nicaragua over the course of six weeks in the summer of 2002. During my stay, I lived with two surgeons, Jorge1 and Pamela, who were from Managua
and were working on the Atlantic coast to fulfill the
two years of community service required of doctors
and surgeons. I was initially affiliated with the Nicaraguan Children’s Fund (NCF), a nongovernmental organization (NGO) based in the
United States. My affiliation with this organization
was influential in establishing contacts, and allowed
me greater ease in gaining access to governmental
officials, health care workers, and mothers.
My goal in Puerto Cabezas was to determine the incidence of malnutrition among children and to examine and explore the conceptualizations and perceptions of hunger formulated by all those involved
with childhood malnutrition and hunger. To this end
I conducted 58 semi-structured and unstructured interviews with three distinct groups of individuals. I
conceptualized these groups as existing in concentric
circles (Figure 1) according to their distance from
the problem of hunger. At the outermost level of the
hierarchy, those farthest away from the actual experience of hunger, are NGO workers and government
officials. The second group is composed of health
care workers and school directors, individuals who
work with and are confronted with malnourished
children on a daily basis. The third group consists of
mothers of malnourished children, most of whom
were unemployed or under-employed and unmarried. I was concerned with child malnutrition, so
questions I posed to the respondents were centered
on child health. I asked all interviewees questions
about the general health status of children, what
foods were currently being eaten in the region, what
foods were needed for good health, what the prospects for a feeding program were, and what such a
program would include. In addition to these interviews, I conducted bi-weekly surveys of the local
food market in which I made spot checks of the
foods that were being bought. Furthermore, I spoke
with children and had them free-list what foods they
normally ate as well as what foods they found most
desirable, foods they identified as ones they liked to
eat or as their favorite foods.
Through the interviews I conducted, varying discourses of hunger emerged. For the purposes of this
inquiry, discourse refers to how people speak and
exchange ideas as well as dictates the actions that
those people will take. In the case of Puerto Cabezas, maternal discourse is often silenced, while that
of professionals is favored. Therefore, action that is
taken regarding hunger and malnutrition follows the
beliefs held by NGO/government workers, health
care providers, and schoolteachers. However, as
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 26, Number 1-2
will become clear in the remainder of this paper,
mothers are more closely attuned to the underlying
causes of malnutrition and the political economy of
hunger – the neoliberal policies that foster an environment of persistent poverty, increasing unemployment, and chronic malnourishment.
Hunger in Puerto Cabezas: “It’s an Economic
Problem”
Many individuals I interviewed from all three categories argued that while hunger was important and
was indeed a problem, it was not the most severe
difficulty that Puerto Cabezans faced. For Margaret
who worked in the traditional medicine center at the
local college in Puerto Cabezas, “There is definitely
a problem, but if we are going to find a solution we
have to focus on everything, not just food.” Problems in Puerto Cabezas identified by residents I
spoke with include in no specific order: poor trash
removal, contaminated water, pollution created by
fishing and timber industries, drug abuse, inadequate
diet and food supply, prostitution, inclement weather, unemployment, lack of education, mosquitoes,
poor health care, and an uneasy relationship with the
central government located in Managua. Hunger
was seen as merely one of many problems faced by
residents of Puerto Cabezas on a daily basis.
For many, the social problems they faced daily could
be attributed completely to poverty or a lack of a
viable economic base. When asked about hunger
specifically many respondents would reply, “It’s an
economic problem.” The following excerpts from
interviews provide some examples:
Director of Children, Office of the
Mayor: The major problems here
are economics, unemployment,
drugs, prostitution – all problems
are economic.
Nurse at public health clinic: Economic problems are the principal
problems. Parents don’t have money for food.
Aid worker for a NGO: One of the
biggest things that leads to hunger is
a lack of an economic base for people here.
3
Most often such “economic problems” were identified as directly related to high rates of unemployment. In fact, among all three groups there was a
consensus that there was a direct relationship between a lack of food and unemployment. Rosa, an
unemployed mother of five, took me on a tour of the
neighborhood in which she lived where, according to
her, the majority of the residents were single, unemployed women with three or more children. She introduced me to Mariana, a young Miskita woman
with three children – an 11-year-old son, 4-year-old
daughter, and a baby boy who was 1 year and 5
months old. The girl had not yet learned to speak
and the baby had been running a fever for several
days and had chronic diarrhea. Mariana worked as a
cleaning woman, which meant that she cleaned public buildings in the town such as the church and the
school for which the members of the community
could choose to pay her a peso. According to Rosa,
“If I pay her a peso she can eat. If I don’t pay, she
doesn’t eat.”
For unskilled women the only jobs available in the
region were domestic work or prostitution. Positions for men included taxi drivers, construction
workers, or night watchmen. Women may also be
employed as nurses or teachers but these are positions that require a certain amount of education, and
very few in Puerto Cabezas go to school for more
than three years. People from the Pacific coast most
often filled the positions that required more training
and education. Jorge held that it was essentially impossible for someone from Puerto Cabezas to become a doctor because the schools were so far behind. The curriculum taught in the high schools on
the Atlantic coast was the equivalent of the grade
school curriculum taught in the Pacific. According
to Jorge, those wishing to become doctors would
have to go to Managua to be educated.
Those who were employed often were underemployed. That is, they did not receive enough money
to provide for the basic needs (food, clean water,
clothing, shelter). For example, Cora was a domestic servant who worked seven days a week from seven in the morning until seven at night except on
Sundays when she just worked in the morning. She
earned approximately 50 dollars a month (700 córdobas), and since her husband was unemployed, she
was the sole supporter of her family, which consisted of seven children ranging in ages from 4 to 18.
Cora was paid once a month and by the end of the
4
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 26, Number 1-2
month there was usually no money left to buy food.
For many families, when the parents could not find
jobs the children would have to quit school to find
work. Children who did odd jobs on the street such
as shining shoes, selling fruit, or carrying bags were
known as street children although such a designation
did not mean that they necessarily lived on the
streets. Many of these children had problems with
drugs. They would sniff glue or gasoline to dull
their hunger and to make themselves feel stronger.
Young girls as early as fourteen would get involved
in prostitution. Young boys often left to find work
on lobster and fishing boats. Recalling the stories of
abuse she has heard related to boys working on these
boats, a school director commented with tears in her
eyes, “It is not fair to give children such hard labor;
it is not fair.”
I befriended two child workers during my stay in
Puerto Cabezas. Both worked at the airport.
Mateo,15, attended high school in the morning and
worked at the airport in the afternoon by carrying
passengers’ bags for a few pesos. His greatest desire
was a pair of shoes that cost 50 córdobas (approximately 3.50 US dollars). He wore his brother’s
shoes when he went to work and wanted a pair of his
own so he could work harder and put in more hours.
Catalina was 11 and did not go to school. She sold
woven boxes and jewelry that her aunt made on the
street. During the first week I was in Puerto Cabezas, Catalina came to the house carrying two woven
boxes that she was selling. She explained that her
aunt was sick and so she had to work all day looking
for food because they did not have any. She claimed
that her family, which consisted of 15 siblings, had
no rice or beans, a garden, or fruit trees. Before
leaving that night, Catalina asked me for some food
which I provided and over the course of my stay she
came by often to sell items and to get some food.
While I was there, I bought her crackers, a cupcake,
Ramen noodles, a sandwich, a quesadilla, and a
package of powdered milk.
“They Don’t Know How to Eat”
Catalina’s food choices seemed to correspond with
the common notion among aid workers, government
officials, health care providers and school teachers
that malnourished individuals do not know how to
eat right. According to professionals such as Jorge
and Pamela people were hungry because of choice
they had made.
J – There are many fruits and
vegetables that grow here –
mangoes, papaya, tomatoes,
avocado – and seafood – lobster,
shrimp, fish – but people don’t eat
them.
P – They eat rice and yucca and
maybe a little meat, but if that is not
available, only rice and yucca.
A – Why do you think they don’t eat
the other foods that are available?
P – Habit.
J – Because of their culture. They
choose Tang or Coke instead of
fresh mango. They eat too much
sugar.
A – What do you think they need to
eat?
P– They need to eat a balance of fruits, vegetables, and meat.
In another conversation Jorge mentions his
displeasure for working at the hospital,
J – I don’t like working at the hospital because they are lazy.
AT – Who is lazy the patients or
the…?
J – The nurses. They don’t want to
work. I think it is because they
work from 6 in the morning to 6 at
night and they only get paid 100 –
not even 100 dollars [per month].
Do you know what is for lunch?
Rice. White rice. No vegetables,
just rice. And you know what is for
breakfast? Black coffee. That’s all.
Jorge recognizes that nurses have low energy because they do not get enough to eat, but equates their
low energy with laziness. This judgment is typical
of how many professionals characterize the hungry.
Among the aid/government workers and health care
providers/school teachers there was agreement that
malnourished people are malnourished because they
eat the wrong types of food and were consciously
choosing to do so. This type of thinking represents a
disjuncture with the thinking of the mothers in two
ways. First, mothers report knowing the “right”
foods to feed their children. Table 1 shows the
foods that mothers reported feeding their children
compared to the foods reported by aid/government
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 26, Number 1-2
workers and health care workers as the most nutritious for children. The foods are listed according to
frequency reported with the foods more often cited
at the top of the list. This chart is based on interviews conducted with 23 mothers and 26
NGO/government workers and health care providers.
I asked individuals from both groups, “What foods
do people usually eat or what foods do you feed your
children?” and “What foods should children be fed?”
The responses listed represent only answers to these
two questions. As I was unable to eat with or observe any of these families eat, it is not clear how
well the reporting behavior corresponds to actual
behavior. Furthermore, the mothers may have been
responding to my question with what they felt they
should be feeding their children as many of these
interviews were conducted at the health clinic.
However, this table indicates that the food
knowledge the mothers have corresponds closely to
that of members from the other two interview
groups. While the two lists are not identical, there
are many overlaps. Both groups include beans, rice,
fish, meat, yucca, oatmeal, bananas, and eggs although they ascribe to them varying degrees of importance. The only foods listed by mothers without
a correlate in the professionals’ list are coffee and
coconut.
Second, mothers rarely chose to eat, or to feed to
their children, the “wrong” types of food. Rather,
they lived in a system in which such foods were often more expensive than Coca-Cola or Ramen noodles. Puerto Cabezas, like the plantation economies
discussed by George Beckford, is characterized by
an
infrastructure for processing and
distribution of export crops [that] is
highly developed whereas that for
domestic output is not. Again, most
of the export crops have guaranteed
metropolitan markets while peasant
production for the domestic markets
are forced to compete with cheap
foods imported from other countries
where farmers are subsidized
(1972:28).
Nutritionist Marisela claimed that parents often feed
their children Ramen noodles thinking it is best for
kids but she would advise that for the same amount
of money it takes to buy five quarts, they could buy
two eggs. When Marisela imparts this advice, she is
not taking into account that the Ramen could feed
perhaps up to five times as many people. The first
5
concern for mothers buying food for the family is
being able to feed everyone. The second concern is
for nutrition.
Vaso de Leche
Another point of disjuncture between mothers and
other interview groups was the differing ideas of the
importance of drinking a glass of milk each day.2
No mother placed greater importance on milk than
any other food (see Table 1). Only four out of 23
mothers reported giving their children milk and only
two listed it among the foods that children should
consume for adequate nutrition. Among children,
only seven out of 87 reported that they drank milk.
However, among other groups interviewed un vaso
de leche, or a glass of milk every day, was seen as
almost a solution to the problem of hunger. Essentially every native aid/government worker, health
care provider or schoolteacher identified and
stressed the importance of a glass of milk a day in
promoting health among children.
According to Marisela the principal problem among
malnourished children in the region was a lack of
protein. She reported encouraging mothers to feed
their children beans, eggs, fish, or meat but maintained that the one nutritional supplement children
needed more than any other was milk. She claimed
that when a feeding program rationed a glass of milk
a day, she could see a difference in the health and
well being of children.
While having dinner at an outdoor restaurant with
Pamela she pointed out the visible local resources –
the ocean below us and the fruit trees that surrounded us. People have all they need to eat here, she
claimed. They just need to supplement it with a
glass of milk. Schoolteachers, health care providers,
and NGO/government workers all claimed that the
best nutrition for the children was a glass of milk
each day. In every interview when I asked the question “What foods should children eat?” the answer
always included milk. According to the majority of
the professionals with whom I spoke, food programs
for children if they were to be successful should be
centered around un vaso de leche.3
Despite claims that children need to receive a glass
of milk a day, I saw very few people actually drinking it and, as mentioned above, milk was not an important food item to many of the mothers. Liquid
milk was available only in the supermarket, and then
6
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 26, Number 1-2
only in a limited amount. In the street markets
where the majority of those in Puerto Cabezas did
their food shopping, only powdered milk was available, and again only in a limited amount. Most stalls
primarily sold fruits and vegetables, and powdered
milk was sold only in the few stalls that sold a large
variety of edible and nonedible items. The cheapest
milk cost approximately two U.S. dollars for a liter
and, according to Marisela, was not recommended
for children to drink. Milk that was suitable for
child consumption cost three to four U.S. dollars for
a liter. In a region where unemployment and underemployment rates could be as high as 60 to 80 percent, milk was unattainable for those families who
are thought to benefit most from its nourishment.
When milk was purchased and drunk, it was most
often in powdered form, which does not diminish
any possible nutritional benefits. Powdered milk
and liquid milk have essentially the same nutritional
value. However, powdered milk is reconstituted
with water that is most likely contaminated. Government and aid workers identify contaminated water as one of the largest environmental problems.
Raquel of the Ministry of Environment and Natural
Resources (MARENA) claimed that water is the
second biggest problem after trash removal.4 According to Raquel, there is no way of getting rid of
agua negra, sewer water. Where there are septic
tanks, they are often located right next to the well
and therefore the sewer water seeps into the household water supply. Businesses also create problems
with the water supply. Large, internationally owned
fishing and timber businesses are not regulated and
therefore continually leak waste into the ocean and
into the town’s drinking supply. An American running a fishing business in Puerto Cabezas had the
water tested. The water that came from the faucets
in his plant tested unsafe for human consumption
while the local brand of purified water, Agua Caribe,
tested barely suitable.5 Therefore, milk, when
drunk, was likely to be a factor in, rather than an
inhibitor to, many of the common childhood illnesses such as diarrhea and vomiting.
Competing Discourses
Thus far, I have argued in this paper that the differences in the ways in which mothers and professionals in Puerto Cabezas speak about hunger reflect the
subtle differences in perceptions of the factors regarding the perpetuation of hunger and malnutrition.
In this section, I will present the stories of two wom-
en, Marla, a mother of five, and school director Linda, whose narratives will provide further insights
into the points of divergence and convergence in
conceptualizations of hunger among the various
groups of individuals.
Marla’s Story
I met Marla the last day I was in Puerto Cabezas.
From the rocking chair on her porch she smiled
broadly to welcome me as her mother motioned for
me to sit down. She seemed to know immediately
why I was there. Before I had a chance to ask any
questions she announced in a mixture of Spanish and
English, “I have five kids. Five es mucho. I don’t
want many. Very difficult to have many childs.
Much trouble.” She went on to tell me that she
could not work because she was sick and it was,
“Too much problem. No office work for me.” She
laughed with this last remark and motioned to two of
her children who were making bread. The two girls
stood under a shelter as they transferred mounds of
dough onto a flat cooking surface that was set up
over an open fire. Marla explained to me that the
bread was the family’s only source of income, but
that when it rained they could not bake bread. With
a laugh, Marla professed that she had no luck; she
had no cocaine. Cocaine is very lucky, she says.
Those with cocaine live well and people with no
cocaine live poorly.6
There is not enough food, she told me. “No hay
money. No hay nothing. Rice and beans. Rice and
beans,” she lamented. She claimed that her family
ate once a day and that day they had eaten beans and
bread in the morning. While I was there, the
children shook some mangoes down from a tree and
handed me one. Marla commented that things were
harder when there were no mangoes.
Marla’s situation was different from most others
with whom I had spoken. She had been educated at
a university in Managua and returned to Puerto
Cabezas to find work but had been unsuccessful.
She was living with her mother since a heavy rain
had damaged her own home. Her children attended
school in the neighborhood, but she was not able to
buy them uniforms and supplies. She attributed the
lack of food in her family to larger economic
problems. There were no jobs to be had. Even aid
money went to people without need; the poor never
received any help. She complained that there was no
money for medicines. “Doctors can give a
prescription but no one can buy anything. There are
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 26, Number 1-2
no vitamins. Many people are sick and there is no
money.” Even though she could identify the
problem, she saw little relief for her situation.
Before I left, she commented, “I think God exists,
but it is difficult to believe.”
Linda’s Story
Linda was the director of one of the two schools
located in the poorest neighborhood of Puerto
Cabezas. For her, the major obstacles she had to
overcome in the school were a lack of materials for
the children and teachers, insufficient food resources
for children, and health problems due to a lack of
food and the mosquitoes. According to Linda, there
were high levels of malnutrition among her students.
Several of the students had fainted on occasion
because they had not received enough to eat, and
many kids left school because they did not have food
– they were either too sick with symptoms of
malnutrition or they had to look for work on the
streets.
Linda kept some córdobas in her desk and would
give students a little money when they asked, but
she desired a feeding program within her school that
would provide children with a glass of milk. When
she heard that a group from Europe was initiating a
feeding program, she solicited a letter to have her
school included but Corazón del Muey was declined.
She now wishes for a program that would provide
children with milk during recess. It would give
them something to get them through the day and
would entice children to go to school and allow them
to stay in school. One of her overall goals as
director was to keep children in school. Often the
students would have to leave to work on the streets
where, as Linda explained, they would become
involved in drugs. “When they leave, I tell them to
take care of themselves and stay away from the kids
who are sniffing glue, but I can only give advice.”
Marla and Linda present similar stories. Both are
telling stories of poverty and hunger, but the subtle
differences in each narrative point to the lack of
concordance between the mothers of malnourished
children and other groups of individuals. For Linda,
one of the most important goals needs to be finding
a way to keep children in school. She feels that with
education, a child will be better able to find
employment and will not be drawn into the world of
drugs and prostitution. Marla also places a great
deal of significance on education, but is aware that
an education may not necessarily lead to
7
employment. The jobs are simply not there, and
until there are more positions available, education is
simply a way to prepare her children for what may
lie ahead.
Linda also stresses a glass of milk a day for children.
For Marla, there is no one food that can solve her
problems. Her children have rice, beans, mangoes,
and bread to eat and these foods offer a substantial
amount of nutrition. However, without a steady
income and stable economic base she cannot
consistently procure and provide adequate quantities
of these foods, and therefore food shortages persist
within her family.
For Linda a feasible solution would be a feeding
program in the schools. For a family such as Marla’s, such a program may provide temporary relief
but not a permanent solution. There have been feeding programs implemented in many schools around
Puerto Cabezas in the past, and while teachers, aid
workers, and health care workers have noticed the
difference that they have made, none have lasted
because there is no stable financial base. The programs are not economically viable because when
funding runs out, there are no additional pools from
which to draw. While I was in Puerto Cabezas, no
public schools had any type of feeding program or
offered any type of food. A government run day
care center offered children lunch and dinner, but the
parents were required to pay 70 to 100 córdobas a
month, depending on their ability. While this is the
equivalent to a few U.S. dollars, for parents with
many children and no form of income, this was not a
practical solution. Private schools also offered
snacks during the day, but again, parents were required to pay tuition for their children to attend these
schools.
Perhaps the most telling difference is that although
Marla may not identify the specific governmental
policies that have contributed to the perpetuation of
poverty and hunger, she is aware that a dramatic
change in her economic and nutritional status would
require transformations made at the societal, rather
than on the individual, level. Conversely, while
Linda recognizes the role poverty plays in the continuation of hunger and malnutrition, she maintains
that programs and actions undertaken at the local
level can affect change, thus effectively ignoring the
political economy of hunger.
8
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 26, Number 1-2
The Pacific and Atlantic Coasts:
An Inequitable Relationship
The disagreements that occur between the maternal
and professional discourse lead to a failure to combat hunger and in fact are instrumental in its perpetuation because the actions of professionals fail to
address the problems as seen by the mothers of malnourished children. I further argue, however, that
the discrepancies between the two discourses obscure what is the most prominent causal factor of
hunger and malnutrition as experienced in the region
– the neoliberal policies enacted by the Nicaraguan
government. The Atlantic coast has been especially
impacted by these policies. Indeed, the roots of
hunger can to some extent be traced to the relationship between the two coasts.
The two coasts of Nicaragua must be viewed as two
discontinuous regions. The region of the Atlantic
coast covers half of the national territory and is divided from the Pacific coast by a mountainous area
in the center of the country. The Atlantic coast, also
known as the Caribbean lowlands, is composed of
hot, humid, tropical rainforests, swamps, and savannahs (Walker 1986:2) and is sparsely populated with
only 10 percent of the country’s population residing
in the region as of the late 1980’s (Sollis 1989:482).
Transportation between the two coasts is limited.
There is only one road that connects the two coasts,
but it is unpaved and floods easily during the rainy
season. The Footsteps travel guide to the region
warns, “Puerto is connected by road to Managua;
however, the 559-km trip should only be attempted
in the dry season, if at all, and in a 4WD vehicle
with double spares” (Leonardi 2001:254). Planes
travel between the two locations three times a day
but the cost of travel is too expensive for most residents of Puerto Cabezas.
The Spanish colonized the Pacific coast of Nicaragua in 1524. The Atlantic coast, on the other hand,
was in the control of the British during this period.
The British relinquished control of the coast to Spain
in 1787, but the Miskitus, the dominant group at this
time, effectively resisted Spanish control and remained loyal to the English until 1894 when President José Santos Zelaya sent troops into Bluefields,
a city in the south of the Atlantic Coast, to forcibly
expel the English from the region (Hale 1994:39).
When the territory was firmly in the hands of the
Nicaraguan government (by this time based in Ma-
nagua), the indigenous inhabitants were obligated to
sign an agreement “known in the Pacific as reincorporación and in the coast as an overthrow” (Butler
1997:220). Stipulated in the agreement, Pacific officials were to assume local administrative posts,
Spanish was decreed the official language, and the
region’s abundant natural resources fell under Pacific control (ibid). “State officials imposed taxes,
usurped Indian lands, established local structures of
political rule, and imposed strict prohibitions on education and languages other than Spanish” (Hale
1994:46).
For 43 years of the twentieth century, Nicaragua was
under the control of the Somoza military dictatorship. Opponents of the Somoza dictatorship were
inspired by Liberal leader Sandino and the Cuban
Revolution to form the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) in 1961. The FSLN rose up
against the Somoza dictatorship in 1978 and successfully overthrew the government in July of 1979.
Judy Butler writes that the FSLN overthrow was met
with “cautious enthusiasm” in the Atlantic coast as
the Sandinista program included a section devoted
specifically to the coast. According to Butler, “In
the first year and one-half, the new government invested more per capita on the coast than in the rest
of Nicaragua…” (1997:221). However, Sandinista
plans regarding the Atlantic coast were implemented
in Managua and did not take into account the specific socio-cultural differences of the region. In the early 1980’s, the
majority of the 1980’s the entire country was engaged in the United States sponsored Contra War
that did not end until the election of Nicaraguan Opposition Union party candidate Violeta Chamorro in
1990.
Despite events that have incorporated the two coasts,
the peoples of the Atlantic Coast remain ethnically
and culturally distinct from their neighbors to the
west. The Pacific coast is often characterized ethnically and culturally homogenous in comparison to
the Atlantic.7 The Atlantic coast is populated by
three indigenous groups – the Miskitu, Suma, and
Rama – and two African based Creole groups – migrants from nearby Caribbean nations and descendants of original slave populations brought to the region by the British as well a significant mestizo
population. In addition, the regions remain incongruous with the Atlantic coast maintaining a subordinate role to the Pacific coast. In 1987, the two
coasts became officially distinct when the Atlantic
coast was declared autonomous and the Región Au-
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 26, Number 1-2
tonoma Atlántico Norte (RAAN) and Región Autonoma Atlántico Sur (RAAS) were formed (Sollis
1989:515). These two regions, however, should not
be considered truly autonomous. Both the RAAN
and the RAAS are dependent on the central government in Managua for support and recognition. This
relationship is best exemplified by the strike that
occurred on the Atlantic coast during my stay there.
One morning I went to the school where I had an
appointment only to find that the school was closed
because the political parties were fighting, and all
government workers were on strike. I later learned
that there had been political tensions in the area
since the regional election of May 4th when the governing body in Managua did not accept the victory
of the Sandanista party and refused to acknowledge
the results of the election. No money had been sent
to the newly elected government and on June 17th a
general strike was initiated in order to put pressure
on the national government. For approximately a
week, schools, aid organizations, and government
offices as well as the airport and bus station were
closed. Even the hospital and free clinic were open
for emergencies only and were seeing no patients.
Most people I talked with, however, were not greatly
concerned. Since the majority of the residents were
employed in the informal economy – washing
clothes, selling food in the marketplace, selling
items on the street – they continued to work
throughout the strike and saw little to no change in
their daily routine save the continual sounds of bottle rockets being fired over the city. The story did
not reach any of the major newswires in the U.S. and
the strike itself ended abruptly and quietly.
The strike provides insight into the relationship between the two coasts. There are separate governmental structures but the Atlantic coast is dependent
on the Pacific for financial support. The elected
government could not operate without the money
withheld by the government on the Pacific coast.
Furthermore, it may also be assumed by the results
of the May 4th election that governmental structures
and decision are dependent upon approval from the
Managua-based government as well.
The ramifications of the Atlantic coast’s dependence
can be seen in the inequitable food transport system.
The Atlantic coast is an area with plentiful natural
food resources. Mangoes, coconut, bananas, yucca,
potatoes, rice, and beans all grow naturally in the
9
region, and the ocean provides fish, shellfish, lobster
and turtle (illegal to export but still hunted and eaten
by Miskitu peoples). The region provides a great
enough quantity and diversity for all to have a balanced diet. However, as stated earlier, there are still
many people who are malnourished. During a oneweek period in May, 2002, 57 children were sent to
the nutritionist at the public health clinic when a
nurse suspected they might be malnourished. Of this
number, 47 were determined to have some form of
malnutrition. In 2001, 343 children less than one
year of age and 555 children between the ages of 1
and 5 were classified as malnourished. Furthermore,
children are not the only ones who are suffering. A
maternal health care doctor estimated that 15 percent
of the pregnant women who came to his private clinic and 30 percent whom he saw at the public clinic
were malnourished.
Many of the natural resources Nicaragua boasts are
produced on the Atlantic coast. They are grown and
harvested mostly in the fincas (privately owned corporate farms). The food that is produced in these
fincas is shipped to Managua and from there it was
sent to the United States, Europe, and other Latin
American countries with which Nicaragua has trade
relations. Some food products are also sold back to
the Atlantic Coast so that producers are buying back
the same foodstuffs they had grown and harvested at
a greatly inflated price. Most of the vendors I spoke
with sold food that had come from Managua. One
avocado vendor I interviewed claimed that the avocados he sold from local corporate farms (fincas)
were always shipped to Managua before coming to
Puerto Cabezas. While I was there, the only products grown and sold on the Atlantic coast were bananas, nance (a small yellow fruit), and yucca.
Malnutrition persists because the food that is grown
on the Atlantic coast is sent to Managua and is not
first used to provide subsistence needs of the local
population. The doctor of a free clinic located in
Bilwaskarmen, a small town near the northern border, explained the circumstances to me. For example, she said, last year was a good bean harvest, and
as the farmers were harvesting the crops, trucks from
Managua came to buy all the beans. Farmers sell
100 pounds of beans for 150 córdobas (approximately ten dollars). Following the harvest beans cost
nine córdobas per pound in the local market and 12
córdobas in Puerto Cabezas. This represents a 500
percent increase in price for the landowners, and is
even more costly for the growers of the product.
10
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 26, Number 1-2
Export-oriented Economics
There are currently no structures in place that would
allow Puerto Cabezas to manufacture and export its
own goods, and until such structures are in place, the
region will maintain its dependence on the Pacific
coast. There is no international airport on the Atlantic coast. The airport located in the city flies only to
Managua in the east and Bluefields and Corn Island
in the southern area of the Atlantic. John, a fisherman from Arizona, had come to Puerto Cabezas because the shellfish and lobster industry had become
so large he saw a niche to fill in the fin fish industry.
When I met him, he had been living on the coast for
eleven years, and claimed that he was not going to
leave until he got “his big bag of money.”8 According to John, “they’ve been promising to build an international airport since day one,” but as it was, he
had to ship everything to Managua and then to Miami thus paying double for transport costs. As the
Atlantic coast has no systems in place to handle exports, it has been especially hard hit by exportoriented economics, a practice that has been a goal
of the current administration as it was for both the
Sandinista regime and the Somoza dictatorship, although trade endeavors were approached somewhat
differently by the socialist government.
An export-oriented approach to economics often
serves to increase the gross domestic product (GDP)
of the country, but can and does severely and negatively impact those who are already living in impoverished conditions, as can be seen in Nicaragua’s
Atlantic coast. Many of the nutrient-rich foods produced in the region are exported. The agricultural
sector (farming, livestock, fisheries, and forestry) is
the primary growth sector accounting for “27.5 percent of Nicaragua’s GDP, over 55 percent of the exports, and 60 percent of labor generation in 2000”
(U.S. Commercial Service 2002:5). Key agricultural
commodities which are now being exported include
bananas, beef, cotton, corn, rice, sugarcane, and seafood products such as fish, shrimp, and lobster (Merrill 1993). Foods that are imported into the country
are usually too expensive to purchase or are low in
nutritional value. Imported agricultural products
include wheat, rice, vegetable oils, tallow, and high
value consumer-oriented products. By far, U.S. exports of consumer-oriented products including
snacks, breakfast cereals, spices, juices, and processed foods exceed all other imported goods reaching a total of $20.3 million in value in 2000 alone
(U.S. Commercial Service 2002:18). Furthermore,
the presence of snack food manufacturers such as
Pepsi-Cola, Kraft-Nabisco, and Coca-Cola and fast
food restaurants has increased in recent years
(ibid:32). The result of such importation is a great
increase in the availability of foods that are considered undesirable for children by NGO/government
workers, schoolteachers, and health care workers.
Neoliberal policies
The Atlantic coast of Puerto Cabezas has also been
greatly impacted by the neoliberal policies enacted
by the central government after the end of the FSLN
administration. “Neoliberalism” describes the economic philosophy imposed by the International
Monetary Foundation (IMF) that dominates much of
Latin America. Neoliberal policies promote free
enterprise, free trade, and a restricted governmental
role and are also marked by accentuated economic
inequality. These policies “came into existence in
the 1970’s and 1980’s as a response to various economic problems generated by…state-dominated systems, including high inflation, low productivity, and
heavy foreign indebtedness” (Walker 1997:16).
Such policies were enacted in Nicaragua following
the end of the Contra War to help boost the national
economy that had suffered due to the economic restriction imposed against the country under the
FSLN.
The effects of such policies can be seen on the Atlantic coast. Jobs in Puerto Cabezas were limited in
number and filled quickly. In addition, they often
did not pay enough to enable to worker to provide
the basic necessities for him/herself or his/her family. For example, a social worker for a government
agency called Mi Familia reported earning a monthly income of $200 and yet claimed that after paying
bills there was barely enough money left for her to
eat. However, among those residents I interviewed,
this was one of the highest reported salaries. Teachers averaged $70-$100 per month while school directors may earn up to $115-$125. Nurses earned
approximately $100, and domestic workers earned
$35-$50 per month. Overall, men received better
pay for the work they did. Construction workers
received 70 to 80 córdobas ($5-$5.50) per day while
taxi drivers, fishermen, and divers earned a variable
income based on productivity. However, this work
was limited in availability, uncertain, and often dangerous. As such, many Puerto Cabezans have attempted to enter the private or informal economy.
Families sold bread or boli (frozen juice in a plastic
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 26, Number 1-2
bag) from their homes. Women baked cakes or
sweets and sold them out of a basket in the city
streets. Others set up small tables in the market and
sold small items such as gum and cigarettes. As
such, the market is currently saturated with these
individuals trying to make some sort of living. In
the area between the house where I was living and
the hospital – a 30-minute walk crossing through
three barrios – there were 63 small stores. These
were either booths set up on the side of the road or
individuals selling items from their homes and were
in addition to the 223 booths in the official market
area. Most of the individuals I spoke with at the
booths reported that they did sell some goods but not
enough to meet their basic needs.
Conclusion
Puerto Cabezas is an area of Nicaragua in which
clinical malnutrition is highly prevalent. Doctors,
nurses, and other health care workers report high
levels of malnutrition among children and even treat
occasional cases of kwashiorkor. In this region,
however, these high levels of malnourishment cannot be attributed to a lack of food. The area is abundant in natural edible resources and residents report
eating large varieties of food. The problem then lies
at the intersection between these two points.
In this paper, I have argued that competing and
contrasting discourses of hunger among several
distinct groups of people (NGO/governmental
workers; health care providers/school directors and
teachers; mothers) hinder efforts to alleviate hunger
and malnutrition in the region. For instance,
respondents from the first two groups often blamed
hunger on the malnourished’s inability to make
proper food choices. Such thinking promotes the
idea that the hungry cannot and should not be
helped, and are personally responsible for their own
situation. In contrast, my ethnographic findings
demonstrates mothers seemed to know what the
“right” foods for proper nutrition were but could not
afford these foods in a great enough amount to feed
their families. Also, for aid workers, school
teachers, and health care providers milk was seen as
a “solution,” but for mothers only employment and
an a steady economic base would alleviate the
problems.
These competing discourses exist in a larger political
economy which, in the case of Nicaragua, plays a
central role in the perpetuation of hunger. Neoliber-
11
al policies enacted in the country have diminished
the number of jobs available and have led to a saturated informal economic sector. Furthermore, a reliance on export-oriented economics indicates that
food items produced in the region are exported in
exchange for goods that have little to no nutritional
value or that local residents cannot afford. In Puerto
Cabezas, mothers seemed to be the most aware that a
solution to hunger must be situated within the sphere
of the national political economy. However, their
voices were often silenced and therefore actions
emerged from professional discourse, and mothers
were perceived as unknowledgeable and unable to
care for their children. Instead of listening to them,
NGO/government workers and health care providers
especially conducted programs to educate mothers,
but none of these institutions and organizations provided mothers with food or money with which to
procure food. According to one mother, “I can’t
work. We didn’t eat yesterday and haven’t eaten
today because I don’t have money to buy food. The
problem is economic. I can’t work so there is no
money to pay for food.”
Table 1: Foods Eaten vs. Foods Suggested
What mothers report feeding their children
Rice
Beans
Gallo pinto
(fried beans and rice)
Bread
Fish
Meat
Milk
Coffee
Yucca
Oatmeal
Coconut
Banana
Squash
Potatoes
Eggs
10
8
8
5
5
5
4
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
NGO, Government, and
Health suggestions for
what should be eaten by
children
Milk
12
Vegetables
7
Fruit
5
Rice
5
Beans
5
Meat
5
Oatmeal
2
Chicken
2
Eggs
2
Banana
2
Fish
2
Cheese
1
Yucca
1
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 26, Number 1-2
12
NGO/Government
Workers
Health Care Providers and
School Teachers
Families of Malnourished
Hunger/Child
Malnutrition
Diagram 1: Interview Respondents
Notes
1
All names of interview respondents are pseudonyms.
2
Milk refers to cow’s milk.
3
Milk has long been conceived of as a food commodity particularly well suited to meet nutritional
needs and as such many “glass of milk a day” programs have been initiated throughout the “developing” world (Stifel and Alderman 2003). Such programs have been in place in Puerto Cabezas but
none were in existence during my stay.
4
Trash was one of the most significant environmental problems faced by the region. All the trash in the
city collected in the largest market before it was
picked up and taken outside of the city, so that essentially the city dump was located right next to
where people buy food.
5
The World Health Organization (WHO) requires
that water for human consumption be less than three
percent toxic and fecal matter, and Agua Caribe
tested at three percent.
6
The Atlantic coast of Nicaragua is a large center of
drug trade. Drug boats running between Colombia
and Florida will drop their cargo overboard if intercepted by the Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA). These bundles would float to shore and
were often found by local fisherman who called the
packages a “gift from Heaven” or a “godsend.” Stories of communities sharing the wealth of a bale of
cocaine found in a fishing trap were abundant, and
although I never witnessed drug trade or drug use,
many local residents explained to me how the Atlantic coast came to be involved in this enterprise.
7
The Pacific coast has often been portrayed as composed of a primarily mestizo, Catholic, and Spanishspeaking population. Recent scholars, however,
have refuted such characterizations and argue that
there is a wealth of unrecognized cultural and ethnic
diversity (for example see Babb 2001 and Gould
1998).
8
The presence of foreign businesses in Puerto Cabezas has had serious and destructive ramifications.
During his term in office, President Alemán courted
many foreign companies to engage in seafood and
timber trade. Large foreign companies have rigorously exploited the timber and fish recourses and
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 26, Number 1-2
successfully dominated small, local farmers, lumber
workers, and fishermen. In addition, the foreign
companies’ practices of intensive harvesting without
a period of rest for the crops, fish, or lumber, are
ecologically destructive to the land and its resources.
Much of this has occurred in the Atlantic coast, and
profits generated for Nicaragua by the presence of
the large foreign corporation are funneled into the
central government in Managua (Parrili 1997).
Works Cited
Babb, Florence E.
2001 After Revolution: Mapping Gender and Cultural Politics in Nicaragua. Austin: University of Texas.
Beckford, George
1972 Persistent Poverty: Underdevelopment in
Plantation Economies of the Third World.
New York: Oxford University Press.
Butler, Judy
1997 “Peoples of the Atlantic Coast.” In Nicaragua without Illusions: Regime Transition and
Structural Adjustment in the 1990s. Thomas
W. Walker, ed. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly
Resources.
Gould, Jeffery
1996 To Die in this Way: Nicaraguan Indians and
the Myth of Mestizaje, 1880-1965. Durham,
NC: Duke University Press.
Hale, Charles R.
1994 Resistance and Contradiction: Miskitu Indians and the Nicaraguan State, 1994-1987.
Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Lappé, Frances Moore
1991 Diet for a Small Planet: Twentieth Anniversary Edition. New York: Ballantine Books.
Lappé , Frances Moore and Joseph Collins
1977 Food First: Beyond the Myth of Scarcity.
New York: Ballantine Books.
1986 World Hunger: Twelve Myths. New York:
Grove Press.
Lappé, Frances Moore and Anna Lappé
2002 Hope’s Edge: The Next Diet for a Small
Planet. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/ Putnam.
Leonardi, Richard
2001 Nicaragua Handbook. Bath, England:
Footprints Handbooks.
Merrill, Tim, ed.
1992 Nicaragua: A Country Study. Washington,
D.C.: Federal Research Division, Library of
Congress.
13
Parrili, Mario Davide
1997 Coffee and Sesame: Mirrors in the Solution.
Envío 16(192):32-39.
Robbins, John
1992 May All Be Fed: Diet for a New World.
New York: Avon Books.
Robbins, Richard H.
1999 Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Sanchez, Pedro
2002 Sustainable Development, Food Security,
and Global Health. Lecture presented for
University of Iowa 2002 Lecture Series,
Iowa City, October 21.
Sollis, Peter
1989 The Atlantic Coast: Development and Autonomy. Journal of Latin American Studies
21(3): 481-520.
Stifel, David and Harold Alderman
2003 The “Glass of Milk” Subsidy Program and
Malnutrition in Peru. Unpublished.
U.S. Commercial Service
2002 Nicaragua Country Commercial Guide.
www.usatrade.gov.
Walker, Thomas W.
1997 “Introduction.” In Nicaragua without Illusions: Regime Transition and Structural
Adjustment in the 1990s. Thomas W. Walker, ed. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly
Resources.
1986 Nicaragua: The Land of Sandino, 2nd Ed.
Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

A Comparison of Nutritional Indicators from
Bambara and Fulani Girls Born in Paris, France
and in the Segou Region of Mali
By Lisa Pawloski
Assistant Professor
George Mason University, College of Nursing and
Health Science
4400 University Drive, MSN 3C4
Fairfax, VA 22030
Email: lpawlosk@gmu.edu
Abstract
Growth data from Bambara and Fulani girls are
compared from those born and raised in France and
those born and raised in Mali. The data reveal that
Bambara and Fulani girls born in France are taller and
14
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 26, Number 1-2
heavier than their female counterparts born and raised
in Mali. No indicators of obesity are evident among
this sample. The sample’s heights and weights match
the U.S. reference data such that mean height-for-age
z-score is -.02 ± .84, and the mean WAZ is .03 ± .96.
Based on the conceptual framework of the biocultural
model of human adaptation, these findings have
implications regarding the environmental impacts
affecting the growth status of Malian adolescent girls.
The data suggest that improved growth may be due to
improved environmental and cultural factors including
increased food availability, safe food and water, a
reduction in manual labor, and access to affordable
and reliable healthcare. While this sample is relatively
small, it appears that U.S. reference data are
appropriate for use in non-U.S. populations to
determine over and undernutrition.
[Adolescent, growth, nutrition, France, Mali]
Introduction
Poor growth and development during childhood and
adolescence, including stunting and wasting, is affected by many factors such as genetics, poor diet,
disease, as well as other environmental influences.
To explain such physiological changes in the human
body, nutritional anthropologists often refer to a
model of human adaptation. This model explores
the ways in which humans adjust and cope with environmental challenges (Himmelgreen, 2002). In
some instances, humans may physiologically adapt
or acclimate to their environment. For example, factors such as poor nutrition and infectious disease can
delay the growth process in children and adolescents, causing the body to utilize energy sources for
life sustaining activities until energy is available to
be used for growth. Further, cultural and behavioral
adjustments may also assist in coping with environmental stresses. Such adjustments may include
food-processing techniques, increases or decreases
in workloads, or overall food choices (Himmelgreen,
2002). This paper uses a conceptual framework of a
biocultural model of human adaptation such that it
examines both growth data and environmental factors from Fulani and Bambara girls born and raised
in France and in Mali.
Studies on migrants have shown the impact that environmental influences such as improved diet, access
to health care, clean water, can have on growth and
development in children and adolescence. Bogin
and Loucky (1997) have shown that Maya children
living in the United States are significantly taller,
heavier, and have more fat and muscle than Maya
children living in Guatemala. Further, Maya immigrants born in Guatemala and Mexico are shorter
and lighter than children of Maya immigrants born
in the United States (Bogin and Loucky 1997). One
early well-known migrant study done by Shapiro
(1939) has shown enhanced growth and development among Japanese children born in Hawaii versus their parents born in Japan. Shapiro suggests
this improvement is due to environmental influences
including better diet, income, and access to health
care . Growth data have also historically been used
as indicators of social inequalities (Ulijaszek et al
2000). Research has indicated that children from
higher socioeconomic levels mature faster and adolescents of high socioeconomic status have an earlier
growth spurt when compared with adolescents of the
same genetic background but of a low socioeconomic status. For example, Howard (1994) discusses the
impact that an economic crisis affected Tanzanian
children in the early 1970s, such that children from
newly impoverished families showed indicators of
poor growth and development when compared to
their wealthy counterparts.
Poor growth and development has been reported in
Mali among adolescent girls. These studies have
shown that when compared to U.S. reference data,
Malian girls are shorter and lighter than their healthy
counterparts. The World Health Organization
(WHO) recommends that comparisons of growth
data be made with international reference data collected from the National Center for Health Statistics
(NCHS) from the United States when no local reference standard is available with which to make comparisons (deOnis, 1997; Dean, 1995). Reference
populations are intended to provide comparisons and
not a standard of growth for all populations. Comparisons with healthy local reference data of a more
similar genetic background would be ideal because
of the genetic influences on growth (deOnis, 1997).
However, there is no Malian reference database
available with which to make comparisons, therefore
data from the NCHS have been used as a reference
population in this study.
Several environmental factors have contributed to
Malian girls’ poor nutritional status including poor
diet, a history of malnutrition, heavy workloads, and
poor socioeconomic status (Pawloski 2002). If few
studies have been conducted concerning the growth,
development, and nutritional status among Malian
adolescents, even fewer have examined the growth
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 26, Number 1-2
of Malian immigrants. The majority of comparative
research of growth data in Mali concerns differences
in socioeconomic status. For example, research such
as Cashion (1988) and Pawloski (1999) have compared growth data of low and high socioeconomic
status of Malian adolescent girls that show even
wealthier girls suffer from poor nutritional status and
are still shorter and lighter than healthy U.S. girls.
For these studies, high and low socioeconomic status
was based on relative socioeconomic standards within Mali. For example, in Cashion’s study, girls of
high socioeconomic status attended private schools,
considered to be quite costly in Mali.
15
living in France are treated poorly, particularly if
their legal status is questionable. Some French are
concerned that such immigrant populations are
draining government resources, and some are
concerned with the practice of certain traditions,
such as polygyny. One girl’s mother told me that
while most Malians feel fortunate to have benefits
such as healthcare and education, many do not feel
that France is their true home and miss the Malian
culture. However, most of the girls I spoke with
appeared more concerned with finishing their
education and fitting in to French culture.
Study Site and Participants
The majority of Malians live in metropolitan Paris or
in the port city of Marseilles. Thus in the attempt to
gain as large a sample size as possible, metropolitan
Paris was chosen as the most appropriate field site.
The sample was selected from members of the
Bambara and Fulani ethnic groups living in
metropolitan Paris because they are closely related
to the Bambara and Fulani groups from Mali who
participated in the previous study. Only these two
ethnicities were selected in an attempt make a
comparison with those with as similar genetic
backgrounds as possible in order to better
understand how these girls physiologically adapt to
their environments. The samples are independent
and no attempts were made to match the girls in
Paris to the families in Mali. There are limitations
however, of using only these two samples to
represent Malian immigrants as a whole. The
participants were selected by convenience and not
randomly and the sample size from Paris was small.
After consulting with Migrations Santé, a French
research organization focused on the health of
migrants in France, three suburban areas
surrounding Paris with large Malian communities
were selected: St. Denis, Mantes-la-Jolie, and
Montfermeil.
Because Mali is a former French colony, many
Malians have moved to France for work and school,
and there is now a very large Malian population
living in France. France, being an industrialized
nation, has a significantly improved overall
environment when compared to Mali. Malians
living in France have health benefits, greater
incomes, electricity, and safe supplies of running
water; all of which are not readily available in Mali.
Children also have access to free education, and all
of the participants in this study attended school.
While Malians receive many social benefits of living
in a significantly wealthier country, many Malians
Malian research assistants were obtained with the
help of a local organization which assists young
West African immigrants, l’Association des Jeunes
Soninkés de France. These assistants helped in recruiting some additional participants during after
school activities at a community center. The assistants informed the girls about the study and obtained
signatures of informed consent that stipulated that
participants could drop out of the study at any time
and for any reason. While many girls approached
chose not to participate due to other obligations,
none of the girls who were recruited dropped out of
the study. Human Subjects approval of the protocol
Research done on the nutritional status of African
immigrants in France has primarily focused on
North African populations. These studies have
shown some evidence of obesity, which has been a
significant problem among immigrant populations in
the United States (Roville-Sausse 1999). Examining
the growth and development of Malian girls born
and raised in France may provide not only valuable
comparative data about growth and development of
Bambara and Fulani adolescent girls, but also some
additional interesting information concerning issues
related to obesity among Malian immigrants. These
data may provide immigrant associations in France
with evidence concerning the nutritional status
among West African communities which has not
been thoroughly reported.
This article compares growth data from Fulani and
Bambara girls born in metropolitan Paris with Fulani
and Bambara girls born in the Segou Region of Mali. These data may have implications regarding differences in nutritional status due to differing environmental influences.
16
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 26, Number 1-2
and informed consent form was issued from the
George Mason University’s Human Subjects Committee.
All of the girls were between the ages of 10 and 17
years and were born in the metropolitan Paris area.
All girls were born to parents who were born in Mali. All girls attended public French schools. The
area where they lived showed a high concentration
of immigrants, the majority being from North Africa. Most girls lived in high-rise low income apartments which are typical of these communities. All
girls received free health care from the French government and most girls had working parents. Few of
the girls came from polygamous households, which
are not recognized by the French government. Most
of the girls lived with at least one other family or a
large extended family so that living rooms were
converted into bedrooms in the evenings. All of the
girls had access to electricity, potable running water,
telephone (many had cellphones), cable television,
and modern appliances. However, often conveniences such as electricity and elevators were not reliable on a daily basis because they were often out of
order. In addition, many of the families and community leaders mentioned comparatively high levels
of theft and muggings. From my observations in
both locations, it appeared that crime was much less
of a problem in Mali, although none of the participants mentioned those kinds of differences.
Methodology
Anthropometric, maturational, dietary, and ethnographic data were collected in the summer of 2000
from a sample of 61 girls (ages 10 to 17 years old)
born in the metropolitan Paris area to Malian immigrants.
Anthropometric data were collected using Lohman,
Roche, and Martorell’s (1988) methodologies. The
anthropometric measurements taken included
weight, height, triceps skinfolds, biceps skinfolds,
subscapular skinfolds, and suprailiac skinfolds.
Heights were taken using a GMS portable field anthropometer. Weight was determined using an electronic bathroom-type scale that measures weight in
kilograms and percent body fat using bioelectrical
impedance. Girls were weighed in light clothing
without shoes. Height was taken in centimeters with
the subject standing on level ground. Skinfold
measurements were taken in millimeters using a
Lange skinfold caliper. All measurements were tak-
en by the author and done in a clinical setting. Regarding intra-observer reliability, technical error of
measurement (Mueller and Martorell 1988) and coefficient of relative variation (Jamison and Ward
1993) were determined and fell within acceptable
ranges when compared with other research (Pawloski 2002).
Because the timing of the adolescent growth spurt is
variable, maturational indices are useful markers
with which to make comparisons rather than using
chronological age. One marker of maturational
status includes age at menarche. Age at menarche
were determined using a retrospective method in
which girls were asked for their date of birth and
when they begun to menstruate.
Ethnographic data were collected by conducting
interviews with girls a small sub-sample of girls
(n=6) concerning eating behaviors, workloads,
knowledge about nutrition, and living conditions.
Additional information on diet were collected as a
24-hour dietary recall from the same small subsample of girls. For the 24-hour dietary recalls, girls
were interviewed about what they had consumed in
the past 24 hours. Girls were only interviewed once.
Heights, weights and ages were entered into Epi-Info
(Dean et al. 1995) so that z-scores could be
determined for height-for-age and weight-for-age.
The rest of the quantitative data were entered in
SPSS for windows (SPSS Inc. 1996) so that
statistical analyses could be conducted. Body Mass
Index (BMI) were determined using the equation:
Weight (kg)/ Height (m) 2
BMI-for-age were then compared with reference
data from the United States developed from the
Centers for Disease Control (Must 1991).
Results
Indicators of Undernutrition. The data reveal that
the Malian girls born and raised in France have
height-for-age z-scores (HAZ) and weight-for-age zscores (WAZ) that are closer to the U.S. reference
girls than Malian girls born in Mali. Distance curves
for HAZ and WAZ are plotted in Graphs 1 and 2,
and the data are presented in Table 1. The mean
HAZ for the total Malian sample born and raised in
metropolitan Paris is -.02 ± .84, and the mean WAZ
is .03 ± .96. The z-score allows for comparisons
with the U.S. reference data, so that a z-score of “0”
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 26, Number 1-2
represents the mean of the U.S. sample. When
compared to the U.S. reference girls, the Malian
girls born in Paris remain close to a z-score of “0” at
most ages except from 15 to 17 years. Concerning
the WAZ data, Malian girls born in Paris again
remain close to a z-score of “0” at most ages except
at ages 13, 16, and 17 years. Note that, the sample
sizes for ages 15 to 17 years are small, thus,
additional data collection is required to compare the
growth patterns of girls for this age group.
T-tests (see Table 1) reveal statistically significant
differences (p<.05) for HAZ and WAZ from ages 10
to 14 years between Malian girls born in Paris and
Malian girls born in Mali. After age 14, only at age
16 is there a statistically significant difference for
WAZ between girls born in Paris and girls born in
Mali, however the sample size for these ages is
small.
Indicators of Overnutrition. Mean values for Body
Mass Index (BMI), BMI-for-age, and percent body
fat from skinfold measurements are presented in Table 2. BMI-for-age data are also plotted in Graph 3.
Mean body mass index (BMI) for the Malian girls
born in Paris is 19.19 ± 3.48 and for the girls born in
Mali the mean BMI is 17.04 ± 2.83. T-tests reveal a
statistically significant difference for BMI between
Malian girls born in Paris and Malian girls born in
Mali (t = 5.71, p<.05). BMI values above 24.1 in
10-year-old girls, 29.1 in 15-year-old girls and 30 in
adults indicate obesity (Cataldo et al. 1999).
BMI-for-age is the recommended measure to monitor undernutrition and overnutrition among children
and adolescents (CDC, 2000). The mean BMI-forage z-score for the French-born Malian girls was .09
± 1.00. Thus these girls reveal a mean that is slightly above the U.S. mean BMI-for-age and gender.
Only at approximately a z-score above 1, are children considered to be overweight. The BMI-for-age
data also are broken down into categories for being
underweight, overweight and obese. These categories are developed from the Centers for Disease Control and are used in the United States to determine
level of overnutrition (Must 1991). These data are
presented in Table 3. Of these girls, 6.6% are at risk
for obesity.
Regarding percent body fat, healthy ranges are considered to be between 20.5 and 35% in adults, and
some research suggests that above 30% in adolescents indicates obesity (National Heart, Lung, and
17
Blood Institute 1994). These girls reveal a mean
body fat percentage of 26.09 ± 6.49.
Age at Menarche. The Malian girls born in France
reported mean age of menarche (see Table 4) to be
12.97 ± 1.13 years as compared with Malian girls
born in Mali who reported a mean age of menarche
to be 14.56 ± 1.80 years. T-tests reveal a statistically significant difference for age at menarche between Malian girls born in Paris and Malian girls
born in Mali (t = 3.18, p<.05). There is no statistically significant difference between the mean age of
French-born Malian girls and American girls (p >
.05). Further, there is no statistically significant difference between the mean age of French-born Malian girls and French girls (p> .05) (Crognier and
Tavares da Rocha, 1979).
Dietary interviews and 24-hour dietary recall:
From the interviews, girls reported consuming three
meals a day. Girls typically eat “French style” in
which they use plates and utensils. The 24-hour dietary recalls revealed that most meals consisted of a
staple dish of rice or millet with a meat and vegetable sauce and consumed a mean intake of 2200 kcalories in one day. Girls reported eating meat almost
every day.
Girls also reported that many Malian foods are exported from Mali and are available for purchase at
local West African stores and at one of the large
markets in downtown Paris. While these foods are
more expensive than in Mali, most girls said that
their mothers felt they were reasonable in price. Often meals were supplemented with French baguettes
and girls admitted to eating fast food such as from
McDonald’s, “every once in a while.” Fortified and
enriched foods are accessible for purchase by Malians in France but not in Mali. Most foods reported
were partially prepared (i.e. milled rice and millet
and bread). Most families living in France owned
cooking appliances such as stoves, ovens, deep fryers, toasters, and refrigerators.
All of the French-born girls attended school and
many of the older girls appeared to have fewer responsibilities than their Malian-born counterparts
and spent most of their free time “hanging out” with
their girlfriends. In Mantes-la-jolie, many of the
girls would go to the local community center daily to
play games and dance after school. Among the
households I observed, few girls prepared meals,
18
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 26, Number 1-2
which appeared to be a primary responsibility of the
mother.
While the living environments had many more modern conveniences than in Mali, many girls reported
difficulties concerning transportation and safety.
These girls lived in what are called “difficult districts”. They are far from the center of Paris and
described transportation as expensive and difficult.
Many girls were afraid to venture out at night because muggings and robbery in France were considered a common occurrence.
Discussion
Bambara and Fulani girls born and living in France
are significantly taller and heavier than Bambara and
Fulani girls born and living in Mali. Furthermore,
the French-born girls do not show evidence of delayed development, as measured by menarche, nor
do they show much evidence for increased rates of
overweight and obesity. Using a biocultural model
of human adaptation as a conceptual basis for this
study, these data may then suggest that the environmental and cultural conditions in France allow for
enhanced growth and development among Bambara
and Fulani girls born in France when compared to
girls born in Mali. Such environmental and cultural
factors that could potentially affect growth include
dietary quality, water quality, energy expenditure,
household income, and access to regular quality
healthcare.
Diet in Mali: 1The diet in Mali typically consists of
three main meals. Breakfast consists of sour millet
porridge, bread and coffee, or leftovers from the
night before. Lunch and dinner usually includes a
rice or millet with a sauce. The more commonly
consumed sauces include: peanut sauce, leaf sauce,
oil sauce, tomato sauce and a sauce of gumbo and
baobab leaves. The diets among adolescent girls in
Mali are typically high in carbohydrates and low in
protein and micronutrients (Pawloski 1999). Very
little meat and vegetables are typically consumed.
From dietary recall data, Malian girls have reported
eating about 1 to 2 ounces of meat a day (Pawloski
1999). Malians eat out of a common bowl; however,
men and women eat separately. Most Malians eat
with their hands. Very few snacks are eaten, with
1
The dietary data described here is primarily summarized from data the author collected in Mali in
1997 (Pawloski, 1999).
the exception of seasonal fruits. Girls who cook reported that they snacked while preparing meals
(Pawloski, 1999). Dettwyler (1986) has reported
that younger children appear to have less access to
nutrient-dense foods than adults and the elderly. It is
believed that elders are to be given the “good foods”
first since they are to be respected and often young
children have little access to nutrient dense foods
like meat and fish (Dettwyler 1986). Adolescent
girls appear to have increased access to foods as they
grow, because not only are they better able to compete for the nutritious foods, but when they begin to
cook they are able to snack. Most of these meals
need to be prepared from scratch and are very labor
intensive. The water available in Mali often contains parasites and can lead to severe gastrointestinal
disorders.
Diet in France: Compared to the diet in Mali, the
Malian girls in France have greater variety in their
diets that may contribute to a higher intake of micronutrients and energy. Further, because these girls
have access to many prepared foods, such as enriched and fortified cereals and bread. The food
supply in France is more convenient involving less
preparation. The girls in France also have greater
access to foods throughout the day due to refrigeration and the availability of fast foods. Many of the
foods are more nutrient dense in France because of
fortification and enrichment. Water is safe to drink.
These nutritional and health-related differences may
help explain the significant contrast in growth between the girls born in France and those born in Mali.
Workloads: As in many developing countries, girls
living in Mali are at risk of nutritional problems because they have to undertake many physically exhausting tasks during adolescence and puberty.
While adolescent girls are still growing they often
must assume adult responsibilities in their daily lives
such as doing laundry, making meals, pounding millet, gathering firewood, taking care of children, and
preparing for marriage and childbirth. As soon as
girls are old enough and able, they are taught to
take-on various domestic chores. Their responsibilities increase as they get older. Very young girls start
out carrying small buckets of water until they gain
the strength to carry larger buckets. Malian girls
reported that they were very grateful to have older
sisters who would take on the bulk of the workloads
(Pawloski 1999). In turn, as the girls born in France
attend school on a regular basis, have access to pub-
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 26, Number 1-2
19
lic transportation, consume more prepared foods,
and have access to modern appliances. Their workloads are lighter and their nutritional status is not
normally challenged by physically exhaustive activities.
workloads, and greater access to affordable
healthcare. However, additional research is important to examine any secular trends related to obesity among this population as have been evident in
North African immigrants living in Paris.
Access to healthcare: In Mali, healthcare is free;
however, it is not easily accessible. There are few
clinics and few medical supplies for diagnosis and
treatment of common illnesses. If they do visit a
clinic, families are often required to purchase medications, which they seldom can afford. Infectious
and nutritional diseases during early childhood often
lead to delayed growth and development. In
France, everyone has access to free health care and
preventive health care services, including immunizations. In Mali, immunizations are often not available
because of lack of resources. Access to better
healthcare may significantly impact the growth and
development of children.
Conclusions
Overnutrition among Malian girls born in France.
While France has a much lower rate of obesity that
the United States, the rate of obesity has been rising
in France, and particularly among North African
immigrant populations (Roville-Sausse 1999); however, no studies have explored the prevalence of
obesity among West African immigrant girls living
in France. Regarding indicators of obesity, the Malian girls born in France reveal indicators that are
within a healthy range. The BMI-for-age graph
(Graph 3) shows that the Bambara and Fulani girls
born in France are close to the mean U.S. reference
population at the 50th percentile.
From the BMI-for-age data for the Bambara and Fulani girls born in France, 6.6% are considered to be
obese. This figure is much lower than data reported
from U.S. adolescent girls ages 12 to 19 years, in
which 15.5% are considered to be obese (Ogden
2002). Further, Klein-Platat (2003) have recently
reported that the prevalence of obesity among
French adolescent boys and girls is 5.2%. When
compared to French data, the prevalence of obesity
among adolescent girls appears to be slightly, but
not significantly higher among this French-born Malian sample.
French-born Malian adolescent girls appear to reveal
few indicators of malnutrition (over or under nutrition) when compared to girls born in the Segou Region of Mali. These findings most likely due to factors including increase availability to food, fewer
These findings have many implications concerning
the nutritional status of West African immigrants in
France and suggest that the environment in France
may contribute to better health outcomes such as
improved growth and development. These findings
also present further questions regarding what specific environmental factors have the greatest impact on
adolescent girls’ growth and development. Further,
before launching the use of any one standard in pediatric public health programs, the specific cultural
and environmental factors that play the greatest roles
in growth and development must be critically understood. Finally, these results suggest that because
there is little evidence of obesity and overweight
among the French-born Malian girls, these girls may
be consuming a more optimal diet when compared to
their North African immigrant counterparts. These
results need to be interpreted cautiously, but indicate
a need for further research concerning the impact of
these environmental and cultural factors on the
growth of children.
Acknowledgements
This research was made possible with grants from
George Mason University. I would like to thank my
research assistants in Paris, Mama Doucoure and
Mdm. Diallo who helped tremendously in locating
Malian communities and recruiting participants. I
would also like to thank the following associations
and people for their assistance in locating my research assistants and participants: Mdm. Jujumera
Sylla at the Association des Jeunes Soninkes de
France, Mr. Samba Fadiga from ASAMC, and Immigrations et Santé. I am very thankful to my
mother, Diane Pawloski, who graciously assisted me
in the field. I am also grateful to my husband, Didier Bourgeois, for his technical assistance. Lastly,
many thanks to Carlos Sluzki for his valuable input
and to Mariette Larrick, for her assistance with dataentry.
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
20
Table 1: Height-for-age z-score (HAZ), weight-for-age z-scores (WAZ) of Malian adolescent girls from the
Segou Region, Mali* and Paris, France
Years
Sample
N
10
Mali-born
111
French-born
11
11
Mali-born
151
French-born
14
12
Mali-born
154
French-born
11
13
Mali-born
149
French-born
7
14
Mali-born
165
French-born
8
15
Mali-born
116
French-born
2
16
Mali-born
141
French-born
5
17
Mali-born
69
French-born
3
* From Pawloski, LR (2002)
** Indicates statistical significance (p< 05).
HAZ
Mean
-.60**
-.09**
-.70**
-.09**
-1.06**
.25**
-1.17**
.03**
-1.02**
.14**
-.79
-.78
-.44
-.28
-.42
-.11
SD
1.13
.77
1.10
.82
1.24
.94
1.28
.55
1.14
.49
1.02
1.68
.95
1.11
1.19
1.61
WAZ
Mean SD
-1.17** .84
-.25** .71
-1.11**
.82
-.29** .99
-1.26**
.92
.12** 1.09
-1.22**
.96
.72** .91
-1.12** 1.09
.16** .75
-1.02
.94
-.20
2.33
-.92**
.91
.60**
.86
-.83
.92
-.48
.11
Table 2: Indicators of Overnutrition of Malian Adolescent Girls born in France
Measurement
N
Mean
Standard Deviation
BMI-for-age z-scores
61
.09
BMI
61
19.19
3.48
Percent Body Fat (Skinfolds)
61
26.09
6.49
1.0
Table 3: BMI-for-age data from French-born Malian girls
Risk Level
Underweight (<5th perc)
N
Percent
2
3.3
48
78.7
Risk of overweight (> 85th perc)
7
11.5
Risk of obesity (> 95th perc)
4
6.6
Normal
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
21
Table 4: Age of menarche
Age of Menarche
N
Mean
Standard Deviation
French-born Malians
60
12.97
1.13
Malian Girls*
491
14.40
.42
U.S. Girls**
N/A
12.80
.04
Rural French Girls***
254
13.05
1.42
* From Pawloski, LR (2002)
** Eveleth PB and Tanner, JM (1990)
*** Crognier and Tavares da Rocha (1979
Graph 2: WAZ of Malian Adolescent Girls
1
Z-Scores
0.5
0
-0.5
-1
-1.5
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
16
17
Age
Girls born in Mali
Girls born in Paris
Graph 3: BMI-for-age for French-born Malian girls
35
Percentiles of US Reference Data
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
10
11
12
13
14
15
Age
5th perc
50th perc
95th perc
Paris
22
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
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23
Social Identity and Food Choice
in the Southeastern United States
Sarah M. Szurek
Department of Anthropology
The University of Alabama
szure001@bama.ua.edu
Introduction
Food and the situations surrounding eating are imbued with individual and social meaning. Modern
nutrition information seems to have taken the meaning and symbol away from the meal, describing it in
terms of portions and calories. A closer look at food
choice has indicated strong relationships with biological, environmental, and cultural factors, implying that food choice can be a highly individual matter and, at the same time, influenced by culturally
prescribed food norms (Douglas, 1982). Food
choices within cuisines can shed light on what kind
of cultural meanings we attribute to ourselves and
others (Fischler, 1988). The identities thus formed
can help to position us in a coherent cultural framework in a world where continued globalization offers a new menu almost every day. The topic of this
study is the social significance of food to three different groups in a small city in the American South.
Food choice is a complex issue that is intimately
related to one’s social identity. One’s identity consists of the social and cultural constructions combining individual and collective understandings that
meaningfully locate an individual in a particular cultural context. The concept of identity is also distinct
in that it expresses both similarity and difference to
others in society (Jenkins, 1996; see Ashmore et al.,
2004 for a discussion on the multidimensionality of
identity). Bourdieu’s (1984) reasoning that consumption contributes to overt displays of the self and
ultimately, one’s lifestyle, is applicable to this discussion of social identity. Bourdieu states that people “distinguish themselves by the distinctions they
make,” including what food choices they make
(1984:6). How one comprehends and consumes culture is a marker of one’s place in society, or social
identity. This paper will be specifically concerned
with the eating habits of day-to-day life, as well as
how the cultural meanings of food structure, and are
structured by, one’s social identity.
Food is central to one’s social identity, because the
self is often asserted through a feeling of belonging
24
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
to a certain social group that has particular eating
habits. By associating with one group, a distinction
can be made between it and other groups that eat
differently. Identity construction concerning food
results from a lifelong interaction between historical,
biological, psychological, economic, social, and cultural factors that contribute to what one chooses to
eat (Fischler, 1988). In this research, I chose to examine the variation in the eating habits of those people who have moved away from the generally accepted or mainstream social identity. That is, the
comparison is between mainstream and alternative
eaters. “Mainstream” or “traditional” eaters are defined as those who, given their local or southern upbringing and heritage, comprise the majority of eaters. These “traditional” eating patterns, considered
to be the norm for residents who have been affected
by local and historical developments, were identified
as mainstream. Two groups hypothesized to have
alternative identities, athletic and health-conscious
eaters, were chosen for comparison. “Athletic” eaters are those who are eating to address specific concerns about energy and physical performance.
“Health-conscious” eaters are those often abstaining
from animal products (especially meat), eating less
packaged and processed foods, and consuming more
vitamin supplements (Kandel and Pelto, 1980). I
argue that notions of mainstream and alternative
identity can be studied in relation to the food choices
that constitute a cuisine, and furthermore, that identity confirmation is evident in an individual’s eating
habits. The ultimate goal then, is to examine how
the meanings of food-related situations reinforce the
meanings of one’s most salient identity.
Intracultural diversity (see Pelto and Pelto, 1975 for
a theoretical discussion) is addressed directly in this
study of how social identity relates to food choice.
Studying intracultural variation is facilitated by the
use of a theoretical orientation that uses a cognitive
concept of culture and cultural models. By theorizing culture as both learned (internal) and shared (external) systems of knowledge (Goodenough, 1981),
certain problems that have been encountered previously by scholars of culture seem to be rectified.
Goodenough’s (1981:106) definition of culture, “the
things one must know in order to conduct oneself
acceptably as a member of that society,” addresses
how the individual and the culture interact. This
cognitive concept of culture can explain variation in
knowledge, and this is made possible by the testing
of the distribution of cultural models through cultural consensus analysis (Romney, et al., 1986). In ad-
dition, cultural consonance analysis (Dressler et al.,
1996) allows a researcher to measure to what extent
individual behavior matches the collectively shared
cultural model. Cultural consonance has emerged as
a sound tool for those researchers looking to bridge
the gap between studies of thought and knowledge
and studies of behavior and belief (Dressler et al.,
2005). Consensus and consonance analyses were
performed on the data collected from the three
groups.
This paper will explore food and identity using this
specific cognitive theory of culture. Historical information concerning food habits in the southeastern
United States will be briefly discussed, and the sample population will be described as well. The specific method of cultural consensus analysis will be explained as the most comprehensive technique for
testing intracultural variation within the groups in
the sample. The discussion will focus on the distribution of food knowledge, with special consideration of healthy foods. The knowledge and beliefs
about food can then be compared with actual eating
practices using cultural consonance analysis.
Ethnographic Background
Modern mainstream cuisine in the United States has
been influenced by the colonial settlement patterns
and historical events that characterized the newly
formed nation (Levenstein, 1988). Historically,
British, Dutch, and German cooking were normalized, having dominated the public and private menus
of today’s society. However, regional variation in
eating habits developed, especially distinguishing
the southern states. The unique natural and social
environment of the southeastern United States
shaped the region’s foodways throughout history.
One of the reasons that the southern states can be
distinguished from the northern states was its early
dependence on specialized agricultural products.
Plantation systems in the 19th century were exceedingly prosperous due to the long growing season,
and many farmers used their land for one or two
cash crops (such as cotton or sugarcane), relying on
other sources for their subsistence needs (Hilliard,
1972). During the 19th and early 20th centuries, vegetables were not part of the ideal diet. At the time,
the basic diet of most southerners would have been
salt pork, a simple corn bread or other corn dish,
sweet potatoes, possibly rice or a vegetable, and coffee sweetened with molasses. More wealthy whites
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
were able to afford better cuts of meat, white flour
biscuits, gravy, refined sugar, and desserts (McIntosh, 1995). The heavy reliance on corn, and the
ease of raising and preserving pigs meant that southern food became known for its “hog and hominy,”
especially for the poorer working class. Pork consumption characterizes traditional southern food to
the present day (Hilliard, 1972).
Some African foods that were introduced to the
South became widely consumed by whites, such as
black-eyed peas, watermelon, peanuts, okra, and
sorghum. The consumption of these foods provided
some sense of continuity from food patterns in Africa for the newly arrived slaves. Also, because they
were given so few and such poor rations, there was
an increased reliance on vegetables, which some
suggest actually resulted in a better health status than
that of their holders. There is no doubt that some of
the dishes characteristic of the South are the result of
the ingenuity of the slaves who had a limited food
supply. These foods might have been presented on
the slaveholders’ dinner table—a possible explanation as to how they have been incorporated into traditional southern cuisine (McIntosh, 1995).
Although the natural environment affected southern
food choices, the social environment probably had
more to do with the differences from the northern
states and also within the region. The hierarchical
plantation systems, the constant influx of Africans
comprising a slave class, and social class differences
among whites affected regional variation, as well as
constraints on the food supply during the Civil War,
Reconstruction, and the Great Depression (McIntosh, 1995). During the Civil War, some farmers
switched from cotton to food crops, and it has been
hypothesized that vegetable consumption increased
at this time. When the war was over, economic and
social problems were widely distributed throughout
the South. Transportation routes were destroyed,
and the work force was chaotic due to the newly
freed African-American population seeking wages.
Immigrants to the United States settled in the northern states to avoid this competition, and as a result,
the North became more urbanized and diversified,
while the southern region was left to rebuild itself
(Hooker, 1981).
Food habits, especially among the poor, generally
remained the same after the Civil War. During the
Great Depression, southern blacks and whites were
still relying on corn, molasses, and salt pork for the
25
majority of their diet (McIntosh, 1995). Increasing
industrialization in the food industry slowly began to
change the rural and agricultural region, as did the
growing awareness of nutrition and food safety
(Hooker, 1981). Processing of food became more
widespread and preferred in the early 20th century,
meaning that households throughout the country no
longer had to rely on seasonal foodstuffs (Cussler
and de Give, 1942).
Overall, consumers in the modern United States
seem to be rather conservative in allowing new ethnic identities into the mainstream and regional cuisine. One example is the historical resistance to
French haute cuisine in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. The expression of ethnic identities in the
United States has become easier throughout the 20th
century, however. In the 1920s, Italian pastas and a
variety of tomato-based sauces became the first
widely accepted “ethnic” food that was integrated
into mainstream American cuisine (Levenstein,
1988; McIntosh, 1995). Today there is a range of
options for those people who are seeking a slice of
home, with everything from traditional Mexican and
Chinese groceries becoming fixtures in some cities,
to four-star Indian and Brazilian restaurants that cater to the upper classes. The availability of different
types of food tends to correspond to the complexity
of the society in question (Fieldhouse, 1996). So as
American society becomes increasingly more complex, the variety of eating styles—and therefore
identities—can be said to be on the increase
(Buckser, 1999; Warde et al., 1999).
Research for this project took place in a small city in
Alabama, population 79,000. It is the county seat
and the commercial center for West Alabama. The
University is prominent feature in the city, and over
30 percent of those employed in 2000 were involved
in the educational, health, and social services. Today, a major source of industry growth is manufacturing.
Sample and Methods
The groups of interest here, athletic, healthconscious, and traditional eaters, came from various
community and University outlets. Traditional
southern eaters were obtained for the project from
one of the many local “Meat and Three (vegetables)”
diners close to the downtown and University areas.
Concerning the health-conscious category, people
from a local health food deli and grocery store were
26
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
invited to participate. In both of these cases, the participants volunteered by listing their contact information on a sign-up sheet. For the athletes, the
coach of the University crew team was similarly
contacted, and informants signed up after an informational meeting was held. Names of additional
informants were also collected after individual interviews had been conducted. Using this snowball
sampling method, I inquired if the participant knew
any other friends or family (who also ate at the diner, for example) who would be interested in completing the interview. In this manner, quota and
convenience sampling methods were utilized, resulting in a non-random, purposively selected sample of
forty-five informants. Institutional Review Board
approval was granted and the data were collected
mainly from January to early May 2004.
For the first sample, comprised of five participants
from each social identity group (n = 15), the elements of the domain were elicited through structured
and semi-structured cognitive tasks. Free lists of
foods commonly eaten by the participants were generated, and food items mentioned throughout the
interview were compiled and initially analyzed,
based on their frequency of occurrence in this first
phase of the research. Thirty-three foods were selected to be part of the second phase. Table 1 is a
complete list of the food terms that were selected.
The second sample (n = 30) was interviewed using
information garnered from the first sample. Ten
new participants from each of the three groups were
recruited for further cognitive tasks. These included
pile sorts of the 33 food terms, and then ratings of
each food item, also accomplished through pile sorting. The initial task was an unconstrained pile sort,
where each of the informants placed the note cards
into groups based on their own criteria of similarity.
Then, informants were asked to rate the 33 foods
along three different dimensions—the energycontent of the foods, the healthfulness of the foods,
and the traditional nature of the foods. These last
three sorting tasks were chosen to mirror the three
groups that were chosen for this study, with the energy category corresponding to the athletic group.
Energy as a dimension was chosen under the hypothesis that athletes would be concerned with this
particular distinction among the foods they eat. For
the food frequency task, participants were given a
chart listing the same 33 foods that were presented
on the note cards. I asked each person to rate the
foods in terms of how many days in the past two
weeks they have been eaten. That is, a ‘zero’ rating
meant that the food had not been consumed in the
past 14 days. Likewise, a “14” indicated that at least
once a day the particular food had been eaten. The
purpose of these interviewing techniques was to collect quantitative and qualitative data in order to delineate the cultural models that are present in the
community, and assess how behavior matches up
with this knowledge. Whether or not there was cultural agreement among the participants, it was hoped
that the analysis of the data would provide information on the effect of social identity on food
choice.
Data were analyzed using Anthropac version 4.98.1
(Borgatti, 1992) and SPSS for Windows version
11.0. The unconstrained pile sorts were analyzed
using non-metric multidimensional scaling (MDS)
and hierarchical cluster analysis. Cultural consensus
analysis was used to assess agreement on the three
dimensions used in the rating task. If consensus was
determined along the dimensions of energy, health,
and tradition, it was then possible to use the consensus analysis output for Property Fitting (PROFIT)
analysis with the MDS graph. Lastly, the food frequency data were analyzed using cultural consonance, after which the consonance scores were compared using ANOVA.
Consensus analysis produces several types of information. First, a factor analysis of respondents is performed, to evaluate the degree of agreement among
them. If there is substantial agreement, this is consistent with the existence of a shared cultural model.
Usually there is more than one factor found in the
data, but consensus can still be determined if this is
the case. If the eigenvalue ratio of the first to the
second factor is three to one or greater, then it can be
assumed that consensus is present. The second type
of output from consensus analysis is a cultural competence score, usually between zero and one (but
sometimes negative), that assesses the approximate
amount of knowledge that a person has concerning
the dimension in question. Cultural consensus analysis also displays the “answer key,” that is, the approximation of what the correct response to each
question is, based on an evaluation of the elicited
replies of the sample.
The data gathered on food consumption frequency
were evaluated using cultural consonance analysis.
Once a dominant model has been identified, cultural
consonance can be measured with the purpose of
indicating which individuals exhibit behavior that is
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
consistently in accordance with the cultural model.
That is, cultural consonance scores helped me to better understand if people were following the models
in their day-to-day lives—if eating behaviors were
consistent with knowledge about food. This method
has been particularly well suited to studying health
outcomes and disease risk (Dressler and Bindon,
2000; Dressler et al., 2005). In order to calculate the
consonance scores, the answer key from the consensus analysis output was used to identify which foods
are most characteristic of the energy, health, and
traditional food models. Individuals were given a
score from zero to two in order to indicate if they ate
none, a little, or a lot of these 33 foods, based on
their response from the food frequency task. The
zeros, ones, and twos were then simply added up
across the list of foods to create the consonance
score. Those individuals with the lowest score
would be the least consonant, and vice versa. It is
important to note that although one might know
which foods best represent the model, determined by
a high competence score, one might not choose or be
able to eat those foods, thus resulting in a low consonance score. Once individual scores are calculated, it is then possible to see if any one group is more
consonant than the others, by comparing mean consonance scores using ANOVA tests.
Results
Over 60 percent of the sample was age 30 or younger, with the median age being twenty-four years.
Concerning the ethnicity of the participants, 93.3
percent identified themselves as white. No African
Americans signed up to participate in the study. All
but one participant had at least some college education. In my sample, 26.7% of the participants reported making less than $10,000 in the past year.
The large number of full-time student participants
who were otherwise unemployed most likely contributed to these data. Overall, this sample seems to
be somewhat younger, mostly white, and more educated compared to city, state, and national statistics
reported from census data (United States Census
Bureau, 2000). Table 2 presents the descriptive
characteristics for this sample.
The 33 food terms that were selected from the first
round of interviews are graphed using non-metric
multi-dimensional scaling. Each food item is compared to every other food, and is plotted on the graph
in a way that maintains the perception of the participants concerning which food items should be to-
27
gether. That is, similar items are represented as having closer proximity, while those food items that are
seldom or rarely sorted together are plotted further
away. For example, the food items of “broccoli”
and “sweet tea” were never sorted into the same
piles by the participants. The MDS technique represents this distinction by placing them relatively far
apart on the graph. In Figure 1, the distances between items correspond to their similarity or dissimilarity according to the cultural schemas of the participants. In other words, for this graph similarity is
preserved as distance. This same unconstrained pile
sort data was also analyzed using hierarchical cluster
analysis. This procedure may be used to delineate
the food items that were pile sorted into discernible
groups. Figure 1 also shows the groups that were
created based on the cluster analysis. These methods provide an appropriate analysis of the unconstrained pile sort data, as the elliptical clusters are
representative of the reasons that the participants
used to create various piles. Most informants said
that they grouped the cards based on what they knew
of the U.S. Department of Agriculture food pyramid
categories.
The dimension of health was analyzed using consensus analysis in Anthropac. Every food item was rated on a three-point scale as being most to least
healthy. The first eigenvalue was found to be 20.4,
which explains 89 percent of the variability in the
respondents’ answers. The ratio of the first to the
second factor was extremely high—13.7 to 1. Estimated knowledge of the participants was also very
high, with an average of 0.82. According to
Caulkins (1998), this would mean that, on average, a
participant had the answer that was considered to be
culturally correct over 80 percent of the time. Based
on these results, it is possible to conclude that there
is a single, strong model for the dimension of the
perceived healthiness of foods.
The athletic group seems to be the most knowledgeable of the three, as seen by their tight clustering at
the center of the data point spread in Figure 2. The
average competence for the group was 0.88. The
means for the health-conscious and the traditional
group were 0.82 and 0.75, respectively. The mean
differences in competency among the three subgroups was found to be significant (F = 3.4, p = .05).
A post-hoc LSD test was performed after the ANOVA, which demonstrates that there are significant
differences (p = .02) between the athlete group and
the traditional group. That is, the athletes have sig-
28
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
nificantly more knowledge about the healthfulness
of the foods than the traditional group, but not the
health-conscious group.
The fact that the athletes had the most similar answers is not surprising, considering the nature of the
athletic group—that it was comprised mostly of individuals who were part of a cohesive sports team.
Participants in every group presumably are subject
to the same barrage of news reports, magazine and
newspaper articles, and television advertisements
that discuss which foods are and are not healthy.
The athletes, however, had another source of information from which to obtain additional knowledge
about health—the crew team coach. He has a professed interest in sports, nutrition, and education,
and told me that he tries to impart healthy eating
knowledge to the team members whenever possible.
The team members spent time together everyday at
practices, were friends, and even roommates. Some
athletes mentioned that they ate with other team
members on a regular basis. Their close interaction
provided many opportunities for knowledge about
the healthfulness of particular foods to be accumulated and refined. As a result, the athletes can be
thought of as a more cohesive social group compared to the other two. It must be noted, however,
that the team does not receive funds from the University (the coach volunteers his time), and it was
therefore assumed that the team members would be
faced with the choice of eating for athletic reasons,
rather than being obliged to eat a certain way by a
University-sponsored athletic program. This flexibility and opportunity for personal dietary choice
among informants was identified as being important
for the goals of this project. Even though one group
has proved to be more knowledgeable, the high eigenvalue ratio indicates that overall knowledge on
healthy foods is substantial and widespread regardless of one’s social identity.
The cultural key provided by Anthropac outlines
what the culturally correct answers are estimated to
be, considering the competence levels of all of the
informants. Those foods that are considered to be
most healthy are oranges, fruit, bananas, broccoli,
and water. The foods least likely to be considered
healthy were sweet tea, ice cream, and cobbler, with
chips and fast food tying for the least healthy foods
among the 33 terms. Table 3 presents the cultural
key, listing the foods and their rating (expressed as a
weighted average ranging from three to one), from
most healthy to least healthy.
The thirty informants of the second group also rated
the food items in terms of their energy content.
When consensus analysis was performed, it became
clear that there was no agreement among these participants due to the low eigenvalue ratio of 1.7. In
addition, the average estimated knowledge of the 30
informants was very low—0.12, with a high standard deviation of 0.52.
Tradition as a dimension had a high level of consensus among the 30 participants. The eigenvalue produced for the first factor was 15.2, and this first factor explained 77.8 percent of the variability in the
answers of the respondents. The ratio of 6.8 to 1
between the first and second factor indicates that
there is a good deal of agreement about what food
items are considered to be traditional. The average
knowledge of the participants was 0.69, with a
standard deviation of 0.18. Upon examining each
informant’s competence scores, I noticed that there
were two outliers in the sample. Both were athletes,
with knowledge scores of -0.09 and 0.36. Interestingly, both of these participants identified themselves as “Italian Americans,” and alluded throughout the interview to the kinds of meals that they and
their families share. Although the participants were
instructed during the traditional rating task that “traditional” food was to mean what people around the
local area usually eat, it seems that these two athletes
had a different cognitive schema when sorting the
cards. If these two outliers are removed from the
sample, the average estimated competence of the 28
remaining participants increases to 0.73.
I was interested to find that the health-conscious eaters and not the traditional eaters were the most
knowledgeable group in this dimension, with only
two scoring below the original average of 0.69. The
mean competence for this group was 0.75. The
mean competence of the athletes was 0.59, and was
0.73 for the traditional eaters. Figure 3 is a graph
representing the distribution of these competence
scores. Concerning the knowledge scores of the
health-conscious group, I think it is possible that the
alternative identity of health consciousness has been
achieved through extensive learning about the perceived negative aspects of the traditional food dimension. That is, in order to reject the mainstream
model, individuals must come to a clear understanding of what exactly it means to be a traditional eater.
The question remains as to whether or not the means
for the different groups were significantly variable.
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
An ANOVA test was performed to see if social identity could explain some of the variability in the responses. The test did not support the hypothesis that
the health-conscious group possesses more
knowledge about the dimension of tradition at a significance level of .10, although it was very close (F
= 2.3, p =.12). Although the means of the groups
were not found to be different, a Levene’s test
demonstrated that there is a significant difference
among the variances of the three groups (F = 2.6, p =
.10).
The cultural answer key presents some interesting
information when the foods that were ranked as traditional are compared to the foods that were ranked
healthy, as seen in Table 3. The foods that were rated as most traditional were sweet tea, cornbread,
chicken, meat, and beef. Those foods rated least
traditional were organic food, vitamins, whole wheat
bread, broccoli, and pasta. When I compared the
most and least healthy foods to the most and least
traditional foods, I noticed that three of the most traditional foods—sweet tea, cornbread, and beef—
were listed among the top ten least healthy foods.
Similarly, broccoli, whole wheat bread, and organic
food, considered to be some of the least traditional
foods, were rated as being among the most healthy
foods. A correlation was performed to test the cultural answer keys for tradition and health. The
ranked data for all of the 33 foods in both of these
dimensions were found to be negatively correlated
and highly significant (R = -.50, p < .01). That is,
this correlation test provides evidence that the foods
considered to be traditional are not considered to be
healthy, and vice versa.
While much information was collected concerning
the way people perceive aspects of food and eating
in a cognitive sense, it is necessary to examine what
the participants report as actually eating in their dayto-day lives. This examination is necessary in order
to determine if there is a correlation between one’s
cultural models (knowledge) and food choices (behavior). Food frequency data were collected and
variability among the responses from those in the
different subgroups was observed. Table 3 lists the
general food frequency data averaged for all three
groups. The frequency data specific to each social
identity group can be found in Table 4. Specifically,
it appears that athletes are drinking more milk, while
those who consider themselves to be healthconscious are drinking less. In addition, athletes
seem to be eschewing white bread for wheat bread,
29
rating it higher than the total mean. Athletes also
reported eating the most meat, fruit, and cereal when
compared to the other groups. They also seemed to
eat the least cobbler, cornbread, and organic food.
Health-conscious eaters, while consuming somewhat
less milk, reported eating slightly more carbohydrates than the athletes or traditional group. Healthy
eaters consumed more potatoes, chips (which tied
with fast food as least healthy), organic food, and
fish than any other group. Foods eaten less than the
other two groups were ice cream, pasta, and eggs.
Those in the traditional group consumed the most
bread, vitamins, fast food, and beef compared to the
other two groups. Sweet potatoes, oranges (rated as
the most healthy food), and pork were the foods that
were reported as being eaten the least by traditional
group members. Compared to the other two groups,
pork was consumed the least by the traditional
group, which raises questions about the salience of
pork in the traditional southern diet, as suggested by
the literature.
The food frequency data are somewhat consistent
with the modern meal structure described by Douglas (1982). While Douglas reported that meat was
the “centerpiece” of the meal in Britain, the food
frequencies suggest that the focus of the meals eaten
is on those foods that are regarded as staples—
carbohydrates. However, when participants were
asked to create an ideal menu for solitary and social
eating situations, most people mentioned the meat of
the meal first. Specifically, when asked about solitary meals, a meat item was listed first 56% of the
time. For menus created for social meals to share
food with family or friends, meat was mentioned
first 71 percent of the time. So although participants
might actually be eating a larger quantity of mashed
potatoes and rice, the meat is identified as being
“what’s for dinner.”
There seems to be a certain level of homogeneity in
the food frequency data in Table 4. It was surmised
that even if people knew the same model of food
regardless of their group designation (as was evidenced using the consensus analysis data), there
might still be some differences in consumption that
would correspond to social identity. I was specifically interested in what kinds of differences existed,
especially regarding the consumption of foods
thought to be healthy. PROFIT analysis supported
this focus on the healthy foods, by using multiple
regression to investigate if the dimensions of health
and tradition shaped the first unconstrained pile sort-
30
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
ing task. The knowledge about health was found to
be a factor that was strongly driving the groupings of
the 33 foods, with a multiple R of 0.85. Tradition
had a multiple R of 0.49. It is interesting to note that
health was such a significant factor even before I
mentioned the concept of healthy versus unhealthy
foods to the participants. That is, before I made rating the foods according to healthfulness a conscious
task, the PROFIT analysis shows that participants
had already used this dimension to make meaningful
distinctions among the food items. Following the
direction of the two labeled regression lines in Figure 1, it is possible to see that in general, foods become less healthy as they become more traditional.
Again, I wanted to check if there were patterns in
healthy food consumption that could be observed
without simply summing or averaging the frequencies for each group. Cultural consonance analysis
provided just such a tool for this task. Eight of the
top 10 most healthy foods were used. Water was left
out due to its high daily consumption in each group,
and peas were left out due to extremely low consumption in each group. Each individual was rated
on their consumption from zero to two, and the consonance scores could therefore range from zero to a
maximum of 16 if an individual received a rating of
two for each of the eight foods. The actual range
was from four to 14. Those with the lowest scores
were the least consonant, eating less of the healthy
foods than those people with the highest consonance
scores. It is possible to see the diversity among the
three groups regarding who is eating the healthiest in
Figure 4. The athletes are tightly clustered with a
high mean of 10.9, indicating that they are eating
many of the foods that they know to be healthy.
Some of the health-conscious individuals had a consonance score higher than the most consonant athletes, but their overall mean score is about the same,
9.8. The mean consonance of the traditional group,
7.7, was well below the overall mean of 9.5. It is
important that in general, everyone knew the model
of healthy eating, but the athletes and healthconscious people have slightly more competence, or
knowledge. It seems that the athletes and healthconscious people know more, but they also consume
more of what they know to be healthy, as indicated
by their consonance scores. The average consonance scores were found to differ significantly from
one another (F = 3.95, p = .03, tLSD p = .02). Again,
the athletes are eating more of the most healthy
foods, followed closely behind by the healthconscious and then the traditional folks. It is clear
that consonance analysis has unpacked the variation
in the consumption patterns of the three groups. In
short, it is possible to conclude that differences are
emerging from the overall agreed-upon core diet of
all of the participants in this sample.
The sample as a whole can be considered to be operating under one shared cultural model concerning
how people in this small city in the American South
think about food. Evidence has been presented that
supports that health is one of the driving forces behind what participants choose to eat. The consensus
for the health ratings of foods was higher than any of
the other tests, suggesting that the agreement on this
dimension is widespread among all of the informants. In terms of their actual eating practices, patterned variation by social identity group was found.
Discussion
It has been determined that participants were conceptualizing food based on a shared cultural model.
Qualitative analysis of the interviews indicated that
information about the negative health consequences
of a high calorie, high fat diet with little vegetable or
fruit consumption has permeated the models of the
participants in this study. The results of the interviews on the healthfulness of food is evidence that
the information being presented to the public is being comprehended, but implementation of that
knowledge through actual eating practices has been
only variably successful in certain groups of the
general population.
I believe that most of the participants are in possession of a traditional background that has influenced
their beliefs about food, as well as their patterns of
consumption. It seems that most participants are
operating on some level with an overarching traditional identity. It is interesting that these participants, while growing up with a traditional model of
what food items make up a meal, are situated at a
particular cultural locus where knowledge about the
connections between food and health is becoming
more widespread—not just in the southeastern United States, but in the entire country. Some participants seem to have embraced this new knowledge
about health, fusing it with their existing traditional
cultural model. This altered model, focused on obtaining better health, is affecting how people think
about food and eating. However, this cognitive shift
has not yet compelled all people to change their actual eating habits, according to the data presented
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
here. Their attitudes toward food are similar, and,
particularly along the dimensions of health and tradition, agreement was also found. It seems that the
strongest consensus concerns the healthfulness of
food. These data are similar to the results that
Newkirk et al. (2005) found in Brazil, where the dimension of health was found to be the most salient
when people were interviewed about food in general
and their eating habits in particular. Notably, this
finding provided evidence that cultural models of
food in Brazil had changed over the past 10 years, as
the dimension of prestige was determined to be the
most important factor driving food choice in the past
(Oths et al., 2003). What forces are driving the
adoption of this new healthy model in the United
States, and how much of the mainstream model has
to be altered in order for patterns of consumption to
change are questions that would be interesting to
pursue through further research. The sample as a
whole appears to operate under one shared cultural
model concerning how they think about food. Yet
substantial intracultural variation among the groups
was present. For some of the dimensions tested, one
group or another had significantly more knowledge
than the other two groups. Upon examining the
mean competence for each task by subgroup, it was
found that the health-conscious group has more
knowledge in the traditional dimension. The athletic
group was found to possess more competence in the
dimension of health.
The results from consensus analysis demonstrate
that people in the sample have a shared model of
food. According to the consonance analysis, the
same cannot be said for the actual eating practices.
Only some people are eating healthfully, and there
seems to be a link between doing so and having an
alternative identity. These differences may have to
do with social class in terms of education and income. The athletes were all college students who
were raised in middle to upper-middle class families.
The health-conscious people were a bit older, the
most educated group, and the group that made the
most money. The social class of the athletes and the
health-conscious group was basically the same,
while the traditional folks made a lot less money and
had slightly less education. It seems then that the
people with the most money and education—the athletes and the health-conscious people, are somehow
setting the standard and driving the consensus about
the healthiness of food. They are the ones who determine what is healthy and what is not, and this
knowledge trickles down to the traditional people.
31
Health knowledge was also found to be concentrated
in the upper class for Newkirk et al. (2005), and the
authors suggest that this knowledge in fact is used
by the upper class to uphold their social position and
preserve differences between themselves and the
lower classes.
The surprising amount of homogeneity in the sample
leads me to believe that the participants had many
different ways of thinking about their own identity
relative to others in society. For example, while
each person in the athlete group agreed that they
were an athletic eater, they also displayed attributes
of the other two groups. What I am referencing is
the concept of multiple identities (Goodenough,
1965), which merits further exploration. It seems
that while most of the crew team members identified
themselves as being an athlete, most came from traditional southern backgrounds. Also, as was demonstrated in the health ratings, most in the sample had
acquired knowledge about what it means to be
health-conscious. All of this knowledge about what
needs to be eaten for good performance throughout
the day, about personal family history that shapes
likes and dislikes, and about how carbohydrate, protein, and fat ratios in every meal affect the body’s
metabolism, influences individuals every day as they
sit down at the table, regardless of their achieved
social identities.
Returning to the concept of culture and culture theory, one aspect of cultural models used to understand
the shared and learned knowledge in society is that
the knowledge in other people’s brains affects you
whether you want it to or not. It appears very true in
this case, where the knowledge of the traditional
people about healthy foods is being affected by what
those of higher social class think. They do not know
it perfectly, but they definitely know it. At the same
time, it is possible to know the other models even
though they may not want to follow them. One can
know something without believing it or behaving it.
This is true for the majority of my sample, because
their actions have not caught up with their
knowledge yet. Cognitive anthropology can be useful to answer future research questions concerning
when individuals arrive at the point where they
begin to eat differently—that is, when this
knowledge about health will actually affect their behavior.
Conclusion
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
32
This project provides a window onto the understandings about food in one southeastern U.S. community. The study of food habits among the human species is an extremely complex task, and it has become
clear that many influential and interrelated factors
affect how individuals and groups make decisions
about food and eating. The participants in this study
have provided evidence that they are operating with
one cultural model concerning the domain of food.
While agreement and knowledge is variable and
spread out among the informants, certain generalizations can be formulated. Individuals in the three
groups share cultural knowledge about the beliefs
and behaviors surrounding food. There is agreement
about what foods are traditional, and there is strong
agreement in the dimension of health when it comes
to food. Health seems to be the most salient dimension for the individuals who were interviewed. Consonance analysis demonstrated that cultural factors
are influencing people to eat the same core diet, with
some variation according to one’s social identity.
The cognitive anthropology techniques used in this
project have proved to be a useful for the investigation of this particular domain. Knowledge about
food, health, and eating are becoming ubiquitous
regardless of one’s social standing or identity, and
distribution of that knowledge has become more
widespread and shared. However, social identities
are at work shaping the food choices of individuals
in the southeastern United States.
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Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
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1980 The Health Food Movement: Social Revitalization or Alternative Health Maintenance
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2005 Intracultural diversity in food knowledge in
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Food and Nutrition, February 2005.
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Tables and Figures
Table 1: List of 33 food items used in the Phase Two interviews.
Carbohydrate
Athlete
bread
Traditional
cornbread
eggs
Health
whole wheat
bread
fish
Protein
Vegetable
sweet potatoes
broccoli
peas
Fruit
bananas
oranges
potatoes*
Snack Item
chips
ice cream
cobbler
---
Drink
water
milk
sweet tea
---
vitamin supplement
---
organic food
casserole
pork
General
cereal
pasta
chicken
beef
salad
green beans
---
fast food
cheese
----meat
Categorical
carbohydrates
vegetable
fruit
*No salient fruit was identified in the traditional interviews, therefore potatoes, a food that was mentioned frequently, was substituted.
Miscellaneous
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
34
Table 2: Demographic characteristics for the sample.
Athlete
Sex (% female)
Ethnicity (% white)
Age
-18 to 21
-22 to 30
-over 30
Education
-some college
-graduate school
Income
-10,000 or less
-11,000 to 20,000
-21,000 to 30,000
-31,000 to 40,000
-41,000 to 50,000
-over 50,000
n = 15
Health
n = 15
Traditional
n = 15
Total
n = 45
n
8
13
%
53
87
n
9
15
%
60
100
n
5
14
%
33
93
n
22
42
%
48.9
93.3
11
4
-
73.3
26.7
-
1
4
10
6.7
26.7
66.7
2
6
7
13.3
40.0
46.7
14
14
17
31.1
31.1
37.8
15
-
100
-
14
9
93
60
15
7
100
47
28
16
62.2
35.6
9
4
2
60.0
26.7
13.3
2
2
1
1
9
13.3
13.3
6.7
6.7
60.0
5
4
1
1
2
2
33.3
26.7
6.7
6.7
13.3
13.3
12
10
2
1
3
13
26.7
22.2
4.4
2.2
6.7
28.9
Table 3: Consensus analysis cultural answer keys for the health and traditional dimensions, and the overall frequencies for the three groups. The foods are rated from most (three) to least (one), and frequency is
measured in times
eaten
in the Freq
past two weeks.
Health
Trad
Health Trad Freq
Health Trad Freq
3.00
1.98
2.81
1.07
2.01
1.93 3.5
oranges
1.7
organic food
1.9
pasta
2.98
2.22 7.5
2.78
2.86 2.5
1.99
2.91 3.8
fruit
green beans
beef
2.97
2.15 3.5
2.66
1.19 7.7
1.87
2.83 7.3
banana
vitamins
bread
2.95
1.91 2.4
2.65
2.83 8.4
1.85
2.80 7.3
broccoli
milk
cheese
2.94
2.38 13.2 potatoes
2.43
2.90 3.3
2.97 0.6
water
cornbread 1.72
2.77 11.2 sw. potatoes
2.43
2.89 0.4
1.56
2.80 0.6
vegetables 2.93
casserole
wheat
2.90
1.50 5.8
2.42
2.91 3.4
1.15
2.98 4.6
eggs
sweet tea
bread
2.89
2.51 1.6
2.83 13.5 ice cream 1.06
2.87 1.9
fish
carbohydrates 2.37
2.85
2.32 4.8
2.31
2.50 6.1
1.03
2.80 0.5
salad
cereal
cobbler
2.82
2.58 1.2
2.13
2.92 10.7 chips
1.00
2.57 2.7
peas
meat
2.81
2.93 6.4
2.10
2.82 1.2
1.00
2.62 3.6
chicken
pork
fast food
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
35
Table 4: Mean food frequencies from the two-week dietary recall. The 10 healthiest items are shaded, and
the five unhealthiest are bolded. The 10 most traditional items are capitalized.
Athlete
Mean
Frequency
(n=10)
water
carbohydrates
vegetables
milk
MEAT
fruit
wheat bread
cereal
cheese
CHICKEN
vitamins
salad
EGGS
SWEET TEA
pasta
white bread
banana
BEEF
oranges
POTATOES
broccoli
GREENBEAN
fast food
ICE CREAM
chips
pork
fish
SW POTATO
peas
casserole
organic food
CORNBREAD
cobbler
14.0
13.9
12.1
11.8
11.6
9.9
9.0
8.7
8.3
8.0
6.9
6.6
5.4
5.5
4.9
4.7
4.0
3.5
3.2
3.2
3.2
2.9
2.7
2.5
2.1
1.5
1.3
0.8
0.7
0.5
0.3
0.2
0.0
Health
Mean
Frequency
(n=10)
carbohydrates
vegetables
water
MEAT
white bread
fruit
cheese
vitamins
milk
salad
cereal
wheat bread
SWEET TEA
CHICKEN
POTATOES
fast food
banana
chips
BEEF
organic food
GREENBEAN
EGGS
pasta
broccoli
fish
oranges
ICE CREAM
peas
pork
CORNBREAD
casserole
cobbler
SW POTATO
14.0
11.9
11.6
8.8
8.5
8.2
7.3
7.7
5.2
4.6
4.8
4.7
4.2
3.6
3.5
3.0
3.5
3.2
2.9
2.9
2.1
2.1
2.0
2.1
1.8
1.6
1.3
1.2
1.1
0.8
0.7
0.3
0.2
Traditional
Mean
Frequency
(n=10)
water
carbohydrates
MEAT
vegetables
white bread
milk
vitamins
CHICKEN
cheese
fast food
BEEF
cereal
fruit
SWEET TEA
wheat bread
pasta
salad
POTATOES
banana
chips
GREENBEAN
EGGS
organic food
ICE CREAM
peas
broccoli
fish
cobbler
pork
CORNBREAD
casserole
oranges
SW POTATO
14.0
12.6
11.6
9.7
8.6
8.3
8.4
7.5
6.4
5.1
5.0
4.7
4.5
4.1
3.8
3.6
3.2
3.1
3.0
2.8
2.5
2.6
2.6
1.9
1.8
1.9
1.6
1.2
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.4
0.2
Total
Mean
Frequency
(n=30)
carbohydrates
water
vegetables
MEAT
milk
vitamins
fruit
cheese
white bread
CHICKEN
cereal
wheat bread
salad
SWEET TEA
BEEF
fast food
pasta
EGGS
banana
POTATOES
chips
GREENBEAN
broccoli
ICE CREAM
organic food
oranges
fish
peas
pork
casserole
CORNBREAD
cobbler
SW POTATO
13.5
13.2
11.2
10.7
8.4
7.7
7.5
7.3
7.3
6.4
6.1
5.8
4.8
4.6
3.8
3.6
3.5
3.4
3.5
3.3
2.7
2.5
2.4
1.9
1.9
1.7
1.6
1.2
1.2
0.6
0.6
0.5
0.4
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
36
1.5
Health
Multiple R = 0.85
1.0
VITAMIN
PEAS
GREENB
SALAD
VEGGIE
BROCCOLI
WATER
ORGANIC
.5
0.0
-.5
ORANGE
BANANA
FRUI
T
POTATO
SWEETPOT
PASTA
CORNBD
CEREAL
WHEAT
BREAD
CARBS
CASSEROLE
MEAT
CHICKEN
FISHBEEF
PORK
EGGS
CHEESE
MILK
FASTFOOD CHIPS
COBBLER
ICECRM
SWEETTEA
-1.0
Tradition
Multiple R = 0.49
-1.5
-1.5
-1.0
-.5
0.0
.5
1.0
1.5
Figure 1: Multi-dimensional scaling diagram with cluster analysis ellipses
and PROFIT analysis regression lines.
1.0
.9
.8
6
.7
.6
.5
.4
N=
10
10
10
Athlete
Health
Traditional
GROUP
Figure 2: Distribution of competence scores in the dimension of health.
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
37
1.0
.8
.6
20
.4
.2
0.0
2
-.2
N=
10
10
10
Athlete
Traditional
Health
GROUPID
Figure 3: Distribution of competence scores in the dimension of tradition.
16
14
12
Consonance Scores
10
8
6
4
2
N=
10
10
10
Athlete
Health
Traditional
GROUPID
Figure 4: Distribution of cultural consonance scores for healthy eating.
38
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1

Evaluation of pastoral livelihood opportunities: a
case of West Pokot district
Charles Ogoye-Ndegwa
Kenya Agricultural Research Institute,
Trypanosomiasis Research Centre
P.O. Box 362 KIKUYU 00902, Tel. 254 – 0733713031
E-mail: ogoyecn@yahoo.co.uk
My field research involvement has focused on food
security and rural livelihood opportunities, particularly for the last six years as a researcher with the
Kenyan-Danish Health Research (KEDAHR) Project
that was funded by DANIDA and the Danish Bilharziasis Laboratory (DBL). I have for the last one year
pursued the same research interest as a researcher
with the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute
(KARI). While my previous research involvement
has been food security in the context of crop production, currently I am more into livestock production
research, and particularly in tsetse and trypanosomosis endemic pastoral areas of Kenya.
The overall objective of tsetse and trypanosomosis
control surveys from a socio-economics perspective
is to provide a participatory rural approach as the
areas are opened up for increased productivity following successful tsetse and trypanosomosis control
and eradication approaches. Often, the research survey team consist of social scientist, veterinary doctor, entomologist, environmental scientist and field
technicians. At a national level, tsetse and trypanosomosis endemic areas are expansive, and the limited government funding is a big draw back in research and coverage. The field situation is extremely
difficult - insecurity, lack of accommodation and
extremely high temperatures.
Research rationale
It is estimated that well over 90 percent of livestock
in Africa are maintained in small holdings and villages where 80 percent of traction power is nonmechanised, with women and children being the
beasts of burden in the absence of draught animals.
According to the University of Glasgow Report
(University of Glasgow 1997), the availability of an
ox to a family unit can increase their output six-fold.
Livestock contributes a significant social aspect in
sustainable rural livelihood.
While it remains important to retain agricultural extension officers who advise on various animal and
livestock husbandry issues, the socio-economic and
cultural significance attached to both land and livestock must be appreciated. Local conceptions of
production systems, whether livestock or crop, are
crucially important, and so do issues of land carrying
capacity, livestock disease burden, crop yield and
optimal production strategies. These should be approached from community participatory perspectives
if they were ever to be sustainable.
The population
West Pokot lies in the arid and semi-arid lands of
Kenya, and one of the 18 districts in Rift Valley
Province. It borders Uganda in the west and Trans
Nzoia and Marakwet Districts to the south, Baringo
and Turkana districts to the east and north respectively. The district covers an area of about 9064 km²
stretching a distance of 132km from north to south.
Nomadic pastoralism is the major economic occupation, and poses great challenges to development.
Acute water problem for humans and livestock consumption often lead to emergence of water borne
diseases and loss of livestock during dry spell. There
is low output and inadequate food supplies leading
to food insecurity and high dependence on relief
food whose distribution are highly hampered by
poor infrastructure and insecurity. Population
growth rate is high, as indicated by the age bracket
of 0 – 4 years that constitutes a high percentage of
23.4 percent of the total population. In relation to
low agricultural productivity, this growth rate is
alarming, noting that the resources are stretched beyond limit with every addition of the population.
The transport network is poorly served, and livestock market access is highly limited, leading to high
exploitation by middlemen. Illiteracy and school
drop out rate is alarmingly high, and occasioned by
early marriages and child labour (Republic of Kenya
2002). The people, particularly women and children
are at the greatest risk of malnutrition and threats of
starvation with the ever-worsening food security
situation.
Salient development issues include food security
situation, provision of amenities such as schools and
hospitals, insecurity, environ metal conservation and
management and gender equality.
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
Evaluating the Pokot production system
“Evaluation of a system is the process of determining a particular quantitative or qualitative value for
it, such as efficiency (output/input ratio) or wellfunctioning (appropriate or sophisticated resource
utilization)” (Kaufmann 1998:17). In this regard agricultural systems components (livestock and crop
production) can be ranked, assessed and evaluated
on the basis of their values. Ranking is useful in the
comparative analysis of different production strategies or different production systems. In so doing
this, and to get meaningful results, the socioeconomic, environmental and infrastructural conditions need to be considered. This is particularly necessary because whether in simple, complex or extensive production systems, socio-economic and environmental factors determine production success, and
so do production objectives.
Like in other pastoral communities, the evaluation of
livelihood opportunities in West Pokot is informed
by the following considerations: that the need for
food is acute throughout the year for the poorly
served local system, that livestock production need
to be stabilised even in the absence of water and pasture, that there exist opportunities for improved husbandry leading to improved livestock production,
that enhanced self efficiency and sufficiency in use
of scarce resources like labour, forage and water are
achievable, and that traditional social organisations
and networking can be utilised to encourage opportunism and hence facilitate the appropriate use of
resources with due regard to safeguarding the right
and roles of livestock and the nutritionally vulnerable group, particularly women and children.
Pokot household resource management
Pastoralism is the mainstay of Pokot household livelihood. Treated as a system, livestock production is
determined by the availability of labour, demand,
and wealth status. Labour availability and wealth
status often intertwined. Wealth depends on managerial skills, the vicissitudes of theft, the demands for
stock, livestock disease infestation and the initial
herd size. Often, the development status of the family determines the availability of labour and this depends much on wealth. In a feedback disposition,
livestock supports households through product output, and in turn the household supports the livestock
through labour input.
39
In Pokot pastoral production system, the availability
of labour often determines the amount of water and
feed available to the herds, either through watering
or forage commandeering. Dedicated herders provide high quality labour, and the herders' skills determine the effectiveness of herd management and
therefore the welfare of the herds. Livestock production is ranked highest and attracts school age children and women, leaving other socio-economic activities such as schooling and crop production as
least developed and barely served.
Access to a household's strategic resources is often
determined by the available wealth and labour. The
effect is a qualitative difference in strategies in coping with the physical, the social and the economic
environment. The composition of the herds may be
influenced by wealth, and this composition is more
likely to cause differences in susceptibility to risk
and in herd recovery after drought (Grandin 1983).
The production aims of the poor and the rich pastoralists are often different, with the poor households
concentrating much on milk supply, while the rich
households often concentrate on both milk and meat
production. This often leads to difference in offtake
and acquisition patterns. In overall, the possibilities
of alternative investing and engagement in extrasurvival activities such as trading to generate income
are influenced by the wealth of the household.
Pokot livestock resource management
Livestock ownership is an important resource management aspect for the Pokot. Livestock provides
milk meat, hides and skins as output functions. They
are importantly regarded for their value as assets and
a security function, ownership that can be regarded
as a saving account that is not affected by monetary
inflation, and able to earn interests through offsprings. They are readily convertible into cash or
other items with full control of the investor. Socially
and culturally, livestock use in ceremonies and pride
wealth payment cannot be gainsaid. They are valuable as mobility assets, being used in transportation of
goods.
Often, mixed herds are preferred because of complementary nature of different species in products
and demand. There are different management levels,
ecological adaptability, disease and drought sensitivity, performance levels, feed requirements, products,
and economic as well as social functions.
40
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
These very important functions of livestock require
and depend on the availability and management of
natural resources, and determined by the classes of
livestock kept and their ability to cope with unpredictable conditions. In Pokot pastoral livestock production, management of aspects such as watering
intervals, disease treatment, offtake patterns, culling
regime and herd structure are crucial areas of consideration.
Since the Pokot largely depend on scarce and unpredictable natural resources for their income and survival, risk avoidance becomes crucial for them.
Large herders therefore tend to direct their livestock
management to risk minimization that tends to reduce productivity. Often, risk management consists
of the following: maximization of herd size, maintenance of more than one species of livestock and female domination in herd structure. Others include
strategic offtake (for example, withholding of livestock in the good years and selling off stock in bad
years), common land use to cope with variability and
unreliability, gifting and social networking, resource
sharing, borrowing and lending.
There is, however, a limited possibility for the simple Pokot household in making use of these strategies because of demands of high labour input, as in
maximization of herd size, species diversification,
herd mobility and splitting of herds. These require
whole community co-operation that forms the very
significance of social and cultural bonding.
Since risk avoidance is crucial for the herds’ longterm survival, there is a marked reluctance to adopt
changes proposed by government extension services
and development agencies. Often, I have been challenged by questions posed by pastoral farmers, such
as: “ ‘forty years ago when you started your research
and disease surveillances each household had averagely about hundreds herds of cows. Now each
household have just about fifty. This is research for
what?’ ”
Due to harsh environmental conditions, most Pokot
herders are forced to earn their living at comparatively negligible opportunity costs. They employ a
number of drought-mitigating tactics when faced
with the situation. One of the tactics includes expanding the grazing area as it happens during deficient rainfall, herd segregation and the reliance on
fallback regions. However, there is a marked decline
in fallback regions due to increasing population
pressure and land alienation.
Other than communal fields that offer scarce forage
zones, there is often restricted entry into grazing
zones of neighbouring ethnic communities. Cases of
cattle rustling and banditry are rampant, leading to
loss of lives and livestock. Availability of pasture in
a Pokot livestock production system is limited and
unsustainable, given the unpredictably short rainy
periods and the large herd size.
In Pokot herding system, cattle production is often
subjected to periodic resource scarcity. Resource
scarcity is often mitigated by low rainfall that can be
treated as an external variable to the production system. Cattle stocking rate influence the magnitude of
average rainfall effect. Stocking rate is an internal
system factor that dictates the potential intensity of
forage competition among cattle. The higher the
stocking rate the greater the risk of negative densitydependent effects on herd.
Conclusion
The Pokot are periodically faced with threats of starvation, and even as I write this report, most families
are solely dependent on government and relief agency food subsidies. Unfortunately, over-dependence
on food aid compromises the ability to internally
mobilise food resources. This should not be seen
from the perspective of external food aids, but equally to household and livestock resource and management dynamics.
References cited
Grandin, B.E.
1983 The importance of wealth effects on pastoral
production: a rapid method for wealth ranking. In Pastoral Systems Research in subSaharan Africa. Addis Ababa: ILCA, pp.
237-254.
Kaufmann, B.
1998 Analysis of Pastoral Camel Husbandry in
Northern Kenya. Weikersheim, Germany.
Centre for Agriculture in the Tropics and
Subtropics. University of Hohenheim.
McIntire, J. Managing Risk in African Pastoralism.
1991 In D. Holden, P. Hazell and A. Pritchard
(Eds.) Risk in Agriculture. Proceedings of
the Tenth Agriculture Sector Symposium, pp.
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
129-142. The World Bank. Washington,
D.C.
Republic of Kenya
2002 West Pokot District Development Plan,
2002 – 2008. Nairobi: Government Printer.
University of Glasgow
1997 The University and its Communities: The
Report 1997/1998. University of Glasgow.
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Book Reviews
Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences
Nutrition and Health
By Marion Nestle
University of California Press, 2003, 457 pps
Reviewed by Joylin Namie
Utah Valley State College
Why do we eat what we eat? This seemingly simple
question often elicits an extraordinarily complex
reply among those of us who study food. Eating is
about a great many things other than nutrition. Factors as divergent as ethnicity, religion, body image,
and economics all figure into what completes the
journey from market to mouth. In societies like
ours, however, where overabundance is the norm,
choice is perhaps the factor most visible to us. Food
is everywhere and we, as individuals, are free to pick
and choose what we wish from the cornucopia that
surrounds us. Who is it, though, who determines the
choices we have to choose from? Do we really have
as much choice in the matter as we think we do? In
Food Politics, Dr. Marion Nestle argues that it is the
food industry that not only determines our food supply, but negatively influences our diet and health in
ways oftentimes invisible to the average consumer.
An authority in the area of nutrition and food policy,
Dr. Nestle has been intimately involved with the
food industry for decades. Her experience gives her
an edge, while her current position as an academic
nutritionist allows her the freedom to say what she
pleases about those she takes to task. The result is a
compelling critique of food company practices that
dominate much of what we are told about nutrition,
as well as many of the products we have to choose
from in assembling a healthy diet. Taken together,
the fifteen clearly written and well-researched chapters tell the tale of an industry bent on making a
profit at the expense of consumer health.
41
Nestle begins by outlining the history of food advice
in the US, in particular the transition from preventing diseases of deficiency (“eat more”) to the current
focus on overnutrition and obesity (“eat less”). The
carefully chronicled debacle of the creation of the
Food Guide Pyramid highlights the power of food
lobbyists over federal guidelines. It also throws into
stark relief the dual role played by the USDA, an
agency with conflicting mandates to protect agriculture (i.e., kow tow to the meat and dairy industries)
and to advise the public about diet and health.
Part Two explains how food companies are able to
exert a disproportionate influence over government
nutrition policy, a scenario with which Nestle is intimately familiar as editor of the Surgeon General’s
Report on Nutrition and Health (1988). Tactics used
by the food industry include lobbying and campaign
contributions to members of government associated
with food regulations. How these methods influence
policy is aptly illustrated through discussions of the
“Banana Wars” involving Chiquita and the EU, and
sugarcane production in environmentally sensitive
areas of the American south. Nestle also exposes the
ways in which the food industry co-opts professionals in the fields of nutrition and food research. She
questions the ethics (including her own) of academic
and professional integrity when food companies help
defray the costs of producing academic journals,
underwrite professional conferences, sponsor research, and even “purchase” entire academic departments. This section concludes with several insightful case studies illustrating the ways these factors combine to affect what we eat. Nestle uses well
known examples to illustrate her arguments, including the boycott of Nestlé over infant formula and
bottle feeding in developing countries, as well as the
(in)famous London “McLibel” case and the suing of
Oprah Winfrey by Texas cattlemen over the potential for Mad Cow Disease in America--lawsuits used
by the food industry to quell potential debates about
unsavory and unsafe food practices.
Part Three chronicles advertising efforts aimed at
children and the inundation of schools with a flood
of “junk” food and sugary soft drinks, the former a
target Eric Schlosser tackled with equal ferocity and
added historical depth in Fast Food Nation. Part
Four closes the case study portion of the book with
chapters devoted to tracing the deregulation of dietary supplements and the consequences of this for
public health. This area of the food industry is
42
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
unique in that, due to the efforts of supplement manufacturers, the public is left largely to itself to decipher information regarding the safety and effectiveness of herbal and botanical agents. Unfortunately,
our perception of these products as helpful or harmful depends more often on our own beliefs rather
than scientific proof of efficacy, a perilous situation
well illustrated by Nestle’s chronicle of the ephedra
tragedy.
Discussion of food industry practices closes with
three chapters devoted to the engineering of “functional” or “designer” foods. Most illustrative is the
chapter describing the thirty year saga of Proctor &
Gamble’s Olestra©, categorized by Nestle as the
“ultimate techno-food”, sucrose polyester. One
omission in an otherwise insightful discussion is at
what point such feats of food engineering stop being
foods at all. If something added to something else
prevents the combination from being digested, is the
end product still a food? The fact that the very industry charged with supplying our food spends an
inordinate amount of money and effort creating nonfoods, and on discouraging us from eating real ones,
brings us back to the central concern of this book:
the influence of the food industry on our nutrition
and health.
In the tradition of Upton Sinclair, Eric Schlosser and
Michael Pollan, Nestle exposes the dark side of
food. A life-giving substance, food can kill us, and
Nestle never loses sight of the seriousness of this
issue throughout the text. Our very health and well
being is at stake. An overabundance of food, coupled with the clandestine efforts of food producers to
encourage us to eat more, not less, is not only disturbing, but dangerous. Nestle emphasizes, however, that we can take action on our own behalf. Taking her cue in part from national anti-smoking efforts, she closes with strategies for countering the
efforts of the food industry to destroy our health. In
doing so she renders this book a guide for living,
rather than simply a tool for teaching.
Eat well. Feed your mind. Read this book.
References Cited
DHHS
1988 The Surgeon General’s Report on Nutrition
and Health. Washington, DC.
Pollan, Michael
2002 Power Steer. New York Times Magazine.
Sunday, March 31, p. 44.
Pollan, Michael.
2001 The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s Eye View
of the World. New York, NY: Random
House.
Schlosser, Eric
2001 Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the AllAmerican Meal. New York, NY:
HarperCollins Publishers.
Sinclair, Upton
1906 The Jungle. New York, NY: Doubleday,
Page.
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Household Decisions, Gender, and Development; A
Synthesis of Recent Research.
Agnes R. Quisumbing, Editor.
International Publisher: Baltimore:
Food Policy Research Institute
Johns Hopkins University Press. 2004
ISBN: 0896297179 - Paperback
Reviewed by Miriam S. Chaiken
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
This edited volume represents a compendium of recent research projects undertaken by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), one of the
important institutions in the Consultative Group on
International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The
editor of the volume and the majority of contributing
authors of the 33 chapters are economists and members of the IFPRI staff, which is the key to understanding both the strengths and weaknesses of the
volume. In terms of strengths, the volume deals with
a diverse array of issues that have been at the forefront of investigations of food security and gender:
intrahousehold resource allocation, agricultural policy, health and nutrition, social capital, and the effectiveness of intervention strategies. The book provides policy implications in a way that is accessible
to development economists, many of whom have
previously failed to heed the call for more cognizance of the role of gender in determining outcomes
of economic policies and programs. The main premise of the research summarized in this book is that
the household does not act as a uniform and monolithic economic unit, and that within households
there may be significant variation in goals, resources, and allocation decisions of the various
stakeholders, with gender differences at the foundation of this variation. If this awareness becomes in-
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
ternalized in the work of economists, then this book
will have made a valuable contribution.
Another strength of the book is a reflection of the
importance of IFPRI in influencing food and agricultural policy worldwide. As a key organization within
the CGIAR network, and one that has policy-related
research programs integrated into the commodityoriented research centers (e.g. the International Rice
Research Institute) it is important to be aware of the
priorities in their research agendas, and the conclusions reached from IFPRI research. The articles are
generally short and pithy, and each section of the
book opens with a overview article that summarizes
the major findings of the chapters and identifies the
“key messages” that are the result. In addition, a CD
is included with the book that includes more comprehensive reports and papers from IFPRI to permit
more in-depth analysis of recent research.
Among the most interesting and useful articles are
those that have clear implications for food, agriculture, and nutrition policy. Among the strongest are
Maluccio, Haddad and May’s analysis of the ramifications of increasing female labor migration on child
welfare in South Africa; Bouis, Bhargava, and
Scrimshaw’s comparison of different strategies to
address chronic iron shortage and anemia in women;
Smith et al.’s analysis of differentials in women’s
status and child nutrition, and Ahmed and del
Ninno’s article on food distributions and participation in formal education in Bangladesh. All of the
articles confirm the long-held assumption that when
resources are managed by women, or women’s resources improve, the welfare of their children improves as well. These articles confirm the need to
target women directly as participants in development
programs, as the multiplier benefits are far more significant than when men are the sole beneficiaries.
The weaknesses of the volume are likely to be more
keenly noted by anthropologists, as the “revelations”
that the authors describe are insights that have been
articulated by cultural anthropologists for three decades. For us, this is old wine in a new and slightly
more quantified bottle. For example, Polly Hill’s
seminal work Development Economics on Trial: The
Anthropological Case for a Prosecution (1986) noted the fallacy of dealing with households as a uniform statistical unit, and the problems stemming
from the failure to recognize the significant economic contributions of women in rural communities. The
economists in this volume argue that the qualitative
43
data (such as that is more commonly presented by
anthropologists) is not sufficient to nullify the unitary economic model, and they assume that the highly quantitative data that they supply has greater validity in making this case. As an anthropologist I
find this a simplistic argument, both because few of
us would argue that quantitative data is necessarily
more “real” than qualitative data, and because these
authors fail to recognize that much of the work conducted by anthropologists is indeed quite quantitative in its approach, most notably the rigorous studies of time and labor allocation that present a precise
picture of the gender-based differences in labor allocation.
Another drawback of the volume is the somewhat
incestuous nature of IFPRI literature reviews. To the
extent that these studies ground their work in the
literature on economic development, they largely
cite each other and previous IFPRI research, whether
published as gray literature by IFPRI, or published
articles by IFPRI staff. A few important works are
acknowledged, such as Eleanor Fapohunda’s work
on “nonpooling” households and Spring’s edited
volume on women farmers and commercial ventures, but these are relatively few in comparison to
IFPRI works.
The book is one that would be valuable in the library
holdings for any university, and might be suitable
for graduate courses in economic development. The
audience most likely to benefit from the research
that is summarized in the book are other development professionals working in food, agriculture, and
nutrition policy who may be able to take these findings and translate them into more effective, nuanced,
and culturally-sensitive policy.
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Why Some Like it Hot: Food, Genes,
and Cultural Diversity
By Gary Paul Nabhan. 2004. Washington, DC:
Island Press. ISBN: 1559634669 Hardcover.
Reviewed by Miriam S. Chaiken
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Famed ecology writer Gary Paul Nabhan has produced another fine book that makes many intriguing
issues in nutritional anthropology accessible to a
general audience. Much in the same genre as Oliver
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Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
Sach’s books, Nabhan weaves tales of travel, ethnicity, agriculture, genetics, and food into a readable
explanation of why seemingly perplexing food patterns persist. His central premise, “we are what our
ancestors drank and ate (p. 30)” is explored in a
number of both famous and obscure cases in nutritional anthropology – such as the link between fava
bean consumption and malaria resistance, the effects
of the Mediterranean Diet, supertasters and chilis,
and the predisposition towards Type II. Diabetes
common in many ethnic groups.
Nabhan focuses on relatively recent genetic history
to find clues as to why our food patterns and physiological responses exist – and he critiques models that
promote the notion that our ideal food patterns are a
product of our more ancient paleolithic history. One
chapter is devoted to debunking the notion that “Java
Man”, mitochondrial Eve, and other icons of the past
were consuming the same magic dietary formula that
would ensure health in contemporary populations.
While he acknowledges that ancient diets almost
surely consisted of higher intake of lean animal protein, much higher intake of diverse plant foods that
contained healthful properties, much more fiber, and
relatively little salt, grain, and no dairy or fermented
food products (alcohol, vinegar), he believes the dietary patterns of ancient peoples were more diverse
and varied significantly as a consequence of local
ecological conditions.
Nabhan then turns to several important case studies
to illustrate the ways in which relatively recent human history shape food preferences and tolerances.
His first case example involves the famous link between malaria resistance and fava sensitivity in some
Mediterranean males. He is able to engage the reader
as though unraveling a mystery, while simultaneously recounting the history of the research that explained the favismo pattern, local perceptions of the
problem, and the global distribution of malaria. The
beauty of Nabhan’s book is well illustrated in this
chapter, he takes a complex scientific problem, loaded with information from genetics, ethnobotany,
medicine, and cultural history, and makes it compelling for a lay person – which is why I think this book
is an ideal addition to the materials we may use for
teaching undergraduate courses in nutritional anthropology.
Additional chapters examine other intriguing case
examples, such as the adaptation of Cretans to a diet
extraordinarily high in fat from olive oil, while en-
joying very low incidence of coronary heart disease;
the ways in which potentially toxic foods are rendered palatable by cultural innovations; and the reasons why some people are chili and spice lovers and
why others are spice-averse.
His final chapter concludes with ways in which the
lessons about our recent past and dietary adaptations
can be applied to addressing contemporary problems. He focuses on the extremely high frequency of
obesity and its related problems among indigenous
Hawaiians, and how the unique Waianae Program
helped address their problems by retuning to their
culinary roots. He argues that by returning to the
cuisine of their ancestors, many of the Hawaiian participants not only regained their health, but also regained a cultural grounding and thus facilitated a
cultural renaissance.
Although the book does not shrink from incorporating fairly technical material from scientific research,
its one flaw may be in an oversimplification or romanticizing of the underlying theme – that we can
all be healthier and happier if we return to our culinary pasts. While few would dispute the value of
eating down on the food chain or having a diet rich
in diverse, non-processed foods, the average American is not in a position to fully embrace the traditional diet of their ancestors. Indeed, given the pluralism that is one of the hallmarks of our culture, the
average “Heinz 57” American might wonder which
of his ancestral food traditions should he follow –
those of the Irish peasant who was his great grandfather, the Cherokee who reportedly appeared on the
family lineage a few generations back, the Italian
maternal grandmother, or the Slavic paternal grandfather? Similarly, many “traditional” food practices
may not be patterns to emulate, as many traditional
agrarian peoples have long-established food practices that are products of centuries of poverty and food
scarcity. Just as food patterns, changes in production
systems, medical innovations, and diffusion of cultural traditions have all affected contemporary consumption patterns, so too have patterns of migration,
intermarriage, and cultural contact.
Overall Nabhan’s book combines perspectives from
nutritional anthropology, genetics, ethnobotany, and
archaeology to illustrate complex patterns of coevolution and the underlying logic of food patterns in a
readable and accessible format. I would recommend
this book to anyone interested in learning about what
it is than nutritional anthropologists do, and for use
Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1
in undergraduate teaching in a variety of different
courses.
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45
found a way to mentor young scholars, through the
annual Christine Wilson Award competition, and to
maintain this living legacy to the late Christine, who
did so much to make nutritional anthropology what
it is today.
President’s Column
Miriam S. Chaiken
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
I find myself in the unusual position of writing my
first column as President of the Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition, knowing that it is
also my last column. As we have publicized through
other avenues, the current incarnation of Nutritional
Anthropology as a peer-reviewed print publication
will cease to exist with this issue. The decision to
stop hard copy editions was a difficult one, and the
reasons for this decision very complex, perhaps it is
best to say it is just the right time to think about new
ways of doing business. Our members can look forward to seeing a new web based publication portal
for SAFN that will offer greater flexibility and opportunity for diverse types of media, and we have
recently instituted a list-serve that provides rapid
communication with all subscribers in a fashion that
is impossible with conventional publications.
We have a number of things to celebrate, as we look
forward to the future of our organization, and acknowledging the 30th birthday of SAFN is a good
place to start. We have been a small, but very dynamic unit of the AAA, with long-standing, loyal
members who are engaged in cutting-edge scholarship in food and nutrition issues. One of our greatest
strengths is the diverse talents of our members, perhaps more than any other AAA unit, we have participation from the entire range of the discipline. Our
members come from all four traditional subdisciplines, we encompass traditional scholars and applied practitioners, and we range in our theoretical
approaches from highly quantified and materialist to
very interpretative and ethnographic. This is the essence of the holism of anthropology, and we are
proud to carry on that tradition.
In recent years we have come to play an important
role in the AAA, as our sessions at the meetings
have robust attendance, our members have served in
key leadership positions (notably our new AAA
President Alan Goodman), and we have instituted
the annual keynote address that has become a very
valued activity at the annual meetings. We have
In reflecting on our past, we must also look to the
future, and the role that we will play in shaping that
future, both as an organization, and as individuals.
We are uniquely qualified to examine some of the
most significant issues in contemporary society: how
do we improve food security for the third of the
world’s population who lack adequate food to
thrive? How can we influence public policy in ensuring the safety of foods, the appropriate integration of
new food and agricultural technologies, and in combating degenerative diseases associated with nutritional surfeit? How do we celebrate and maintain
cultural traditions that are often expressed through
traditional foodways in an increasingly pluralistic,
mechanized world? What forces have shaped the
evolution of the human species, and how does that
evolutionary legacy influence our future health and
wellbeing? What role does globalization play in food
related research and policy, and how do we respond
to the impacts of globalization? These are all, indeed, important issues, and formidable challenges to
our profession. It may be my tendency to be a glass
more than half-full person, but I think we are
uniquely qualified to play a significant role in addressing these questions, and shaping scholarship
and policy in these key areas. Despite the change in
our publication outlet, we will continue to be strong
and effective players in the sphere of food and nutrition research.
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Copyright  2001 American Anthropological Association
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Nutritional Anthropology, Volume 24, Number 1