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The purpose of this procedure is to identify the foods in the community food system that are potential or known plant and animal sources of vitamin A, and other key nutrients available within the assessment area. The data tables are continually updated with direct observation, published and unpublished data, and information gathered from interviews with key informants, the elders, and others. These tables will be an invaluable source of information for considering potential interventions to improve vitamin A status using locally available food. The tables will also be useful in identifying gaps in knowledge about the availability, acceptability and composition of locally available food items. Complete tables are necessary to be confident that all possible considerations are given to potential local food resources for nutritional interventions. Constructing Community Food System Data Tables (Form 3.1 ) takes place in a series of steps.
a. Preliminary Data
Before the field work begins, you will need to review existing data on local/regional foods. Sources of information may include regional food composition tables, other published works from the region, unpublished theses from local and national universities and colleges, and unpublished reports from international development agencies. Ideally, you should approach the field work with a listing of all reported foods in the local area with the following information: food category, local names(s), scientific name (Latin terminology), part used, preparation and preservation, if any, and nutrient composition, with special note on vitamin A content.
See Appendix 8 for an overview of the vitamin A content of food.
b. Completion of the Community Food System Data Tables
By the end of your study, the data tables should be complete with all food items you have found to be used (past and/or present) in the area of study. Direct observation of markets, household gardens and areas of intense agriculture may generate additional information about food sources. You will be able to identify gaps in knowledge and to complete existing data with the following information for each food:
• Wild, hunted/gathered or cultivated.
• Home harvested or purchased in the local market (or both); price in the local market.
• Cost of production, if known (i.e., cost of seeds, fertilizers, food, housing, labor).
• Seasonality of use. If possible, construct a table of seasonally available foods. List the months of the year along the horizontal axis and a relative scale of availability of each food item along the vertical axis. Additional information, such as price, can be inserted at appropriate places along the horizontal axis.
• Importance value to the community:• as a source of food;
• as a source of vitamin A (to be determined in pare by portion size and frequency of use).• Use by family members:
• by age/gender;
• by young children;
• preparation for use as a weaning food.
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NOTE: Each food item listed should be by primary species, as either raw or cooked. Recipe items are too complicated for these tables, but may be included as an appendix to the Food System Data Tables with notes of preparation and preservation techniques. |
FORM 2 .2 Rank Order of Food Prices for Vitamin A-Rich Food from Most to Least Expensive for 1000 RE
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Vitamin A Food Item |
Price or Price Range/Serving |
Price or Price Range/1000 RE |
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30. |
FORM 3.1 Community Food System Data Tables: Food Data Sheet
Food Category:__________________________________________________
Local Name & Other Common Names: ______________________________
Scientific Name: _________________________________________________
Part(s) Used: ____________________________________________________
Preparation: _____________________________________________________
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Nutrient |
Nutrient Composition/1 00g (Edible Portion by Part) | ||
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Part: |
Part: |
Part: | |
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Energy, kcal, kJ | |||
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Protein, 9 | |||
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Fat, 9 | |||
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Retinol, mg | |||
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Beta carotene, mg | |||
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Total carotene, mg | |||
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Retinol equivalents | |||
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Ascorbate, mg | |||
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Riboflavin, mg | |||
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Niacin, mg | |||
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Iron, mg | |||
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Calcium, mg | |||
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other: | |||
Wild, Hunted/Gathered, or Cultivated: ___________________________________
Home Harvested or Purchased: ________________________________________
Seasonality of Use: __________________________________________________
Cost of Production, if Known: __________________________________________
FORM 3 .1 Community Food System Data Tables: Food Data Sheet
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Use/Price | ||||||||||||
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Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec | |
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High | ||||||||||||
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Medium | ||||||||||||
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Low | ||||||||||||
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None | ||||||||||||
Importance Value to the Community by Age/Gender: ___________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Miscellaneous Information: ___________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
FIGURE 3 .1 Example of an Entry in a Community Food System Data Table (Form 3.1)
Food Category: Green leafy vegetables (indigenous)
Local Name & Other Common Names: Chomtee (K 'ekchi); chilete dulce; quilete (Chiapas)
Scientific Name: Lycianthes Synanthera-Bitter
Part (s) Used: Leaf, preferably young
Preparation: Leaf boiled in stew and soups, primarily for the flavor
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Nutrient |
Nutrient Composition/1 00g (Edible Portion by Part) | ||
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Part: |
Part: |
Part: | |
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Energy, kcal, kJ | |||
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Protein, g | |||
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Fat, g | |||
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Retinol, mg |
None Available | ||
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Beta carotene, mg | |||
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Total carotene, mg | |||
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Retinol equivalents | |||
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Ascorbate, mg | |||
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Riboflavin, mg | |||
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Niacin, mg | |||
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Iron, mg | |||
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Calcium, mg | |||
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other: | |||
Wild, Hunted/Gathered, or Cultivated: Gathered in rural communities only N/A in urban)
______________________________________________________________________
Home Harvested or Purchased: Only available periodically in rural market
(Qo.14-03/90 market price in Caracha, Guatamala)
Seasonality of Use: Year round availability,. with greatest intake in February and April when the maize fields are cleared of indigenous greens and weeds
Cost of Production, if Known:_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
FIGURE 3.1 Example of an Entry in a Community Food System Data Table (Form 3.1)
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Use/Price | ||||||||||||
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Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec | |
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High |
X |
X | ||||||||||
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Medium |
X |
X | ||||||||||
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Low |
X |
X |
X | |||||||||
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None |
X |
X |
X |
X | ||||||||
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clearing of maize field | ||||||||||||
Importance Value to the Community by Age/Gender:______________________________
• No specific preferences, except some patents claim that children dislike greens.
• Only "sea as flavoring in small quantities, and not very frequently, hence minor potential as source of vitamin A.___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Miscellaneous Information: Little information exists on this species. with at {east one variety previously classified as a distinct species (ref. Gentry and Standley. 1974)._________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
c. Search for Little-Used or Unused Vitamin A-Rich Food
Since this effort on community assessment on natural food sources of vitamin A is focused on developing interventions for improving the utilization of vitamin A-rich foods occurring in particular regions, it is of vital importance to identify all possible local resources of vitamin A. These may include plants and animals that are no longer utilized by the people for a variety of reasons that may include the following:
i. The particular food source is now considered "old fashioned" by the current generation of inhabitants; perhaps due to the influence of European and American cultural contacts (including administrators and missionaries).
ii. The food may have been collected in connection with other activities (e.g., collection of firewood) which are no longer done. Hence this relatively secondary source of food is now neglected, in part because of inconvenience.
iii. In some cases the food may have been contaminated or damaged by activities such as the spraying of pesticides, closeness to garbage dump, etc.
iv. In some regions people have become accustomed to the purchasing of foods from stores and markets, so the gathering of wild foods, or growing of garden foods, has dwindled to insignificance.
v. Various other factors may also be involved in the low utilization of certain foods rich in vitamin A. Crop land may be used for cash crops, thus displacing the ecological niche for a particular food rich in vitamin A, such as green plants.
The field team should probe for lists of foods that might be used only during special times, such as lean seasons or lean years. Some of the so-called famine foods, or lean-year foods may be important sources of vitamin A at certain times of the year. Some individuals and families may be particularly good sources of information about famine foods and other foods no longer used. Some families that live in marginal circumstances, or perhaps farther up the mountain, or in other special ecological locations, may have information about wild foods or unusual cultigens that the rest of the population has forgotten.
Also, elderly members of the population may be important sources of information concerning utilization of foods that are no longer used or cultivated in the region. Researchers should make special efforts to find some of these special types of informants, in order to assess the possibility that some little used food sources may be potentially important sources of vitamin A.
When little-used or no-longer-used foods are identified, they present a special challenge to researchers. In some cases the foods may be difficult to utilize because of the time investment in searching for them (e.g., particular types of wild berries). In some areas, the indigenous foods that were once considered low in prestige may be restored to favor because of newly awakened ethnic (cultural) pride. All the various factors affecting their possible utilization should be examined carefully with your key-informants.
If little used, or currently unused foods rich in vitamin A are discovered early in the field work, they can be included in the research modules along with other foods. On the other hand, sometimes these special foods are identified near the end of the research period. In that case, probing with key-informants is required. Perhaps a special focus group session would be useful to examine the pros and cons of using those foods and to provide the information for the Community Food System Data Tables.
To do this, identify two to four key elders or other special informants with the help of local leaders/chiefs who may or may not participate as key-informants or mother-respondents.
From these individuals you want to find out if there are any key vitamin A-rich foods in the area that people once used, but are no longer using and why not. You may want to start by saying, "People in this area eat quite a lot of different foods. We want to know if there are other foods you know about that people are not using and why not. We are interested in local foods (not imported ones), especially those that were eaten by most family members."
For each general food category (animal food, starch/ staple food, fruit, etc.) ask your elder informant if there are other foods to add to the list you already have for the area. For each new food he or she mentions ask:
• Its name (and food category).
• Season available. (Be sure to ask if there are foods that are only consumed during periods of drought and if they exist in the area of study.)
• Place available.
• A brief description of its harvest and preparation.
• Why it is no longer used.
• Could this food be shown to you? If not, why not?
When you have completed these special interviews, record all the newly mentioned foods on Form 3.2 using the local name. Give each food a score according to the number of informants who used it; i.e., if it was used by one person (1); by two people (2); etc. Write the number of people interviewed and their names at the top of the page. Try to get information on the cultural associations of these foods in terms of their major characteristics that were/will be explored in the pile sort and attribute comparison modules in Section II-C-6. Make notes on their potential vitamin A contents.
If, in the memory of the elders, the community had been relocated into this area, make a note of it on the form. Knowledge of locally-available foods is often limited when people migrate into a new area. Sometimes peoples of different ethnic groups use different foods from the same environment.
This list of foods no-longer-used should be scrutinized for what may be good sources of vitamin A. If vitamin A-rich foods are still available, these may be added to the list of foods in the Community Food System Data Tables for identification, possible nutrient analysis, and for the structured interviews.