Introduction and Methods

The consumption of food is fundamental to human survival for two primary reasons. First, nutritional characteristics of the food have a great impact on the development and health of people. Second, eating is an intensely social activity. Connection regarding the choices we make about what to eat, where to get the food from, acquisition and positional behavior are undeniably important. Gretel, Darna and Alan (chapter 1) state that the nutritional function that food fulfils is to nourish the body.

Human beings require food to be able to perform everyday activities, good health and develop. The choices humans make are based on availability of food, cost, social and moral meaning of food (Gretel, Darna and Alan chapter 1). Positional behavior is primarily concerned with how food is distributed, obtained and their sources. As it links to food acquisition, an animal of any given size and morphology will use a particular positional catalog and style of performance of actions to select a precise technique of foraging and feeding.

It is important to understand that whatever we eat make us who we are. Different human population consume specific food depending on its importance within the diet (Katz and Mary chapter 12). Nutritional anthropology is basically about comprehending the relationship between biological and social forces in shaping how individuals consume food, the nutritional status, and populations. According to Gretel, Darna and Alan (chapter 1), nutritional anthropologists always try to understand the impact of a new technology will have on nutrition. Food acquisition within my locality is not well distributed to quickly access, therefore where to get food stuff requires one to keep trend and records to a routine process of where to source food. I encountered some various problems while acquiring and locating the sources of these foods. First, making a choice out of many food items is a challenge to select the best quality. Second, lack of enough money to buy the healthy nutritious food was a challenge. Lastly, preservation and preparation of local food, and daily activities hindered proper recording of daily data. According to Lee (chapter 2), other challenges one may encounter include limited store food and inability to access local food markets due to long distance.

Summary Result of My Three-Day Food Diary (appendix)

My written records of actual intake of food and beverages consumed at a three-day period have not been measured using standards household measures, food models, and pictures just because my daily activities does not allow. My food record is appropriately balanced with a balanced diet history. I ventured most on a low caloric diet to maintain my weight as well as preventing health risk issues. Being on a busy schedule throughout the daily I decided to keep a record of three meal in a day without using specific measuring standards, but I kept track on the amount am consuming by measuring using household tools like cups and spoons.

Keeping food diaries is paramount as it creates a conscious awareness of food intake and eating patterns. Due to the existence of different food systems, individuals are able to connect local subsistence practice to diet (Lee chapter 2). Recording of what ones eat daily depends on the purpose and area of concerns one is interested. Could be the problem in portions, focus on nutritional diet, eating patterns as well as the emotional eating issue.

Reflection on My Personal Food Acquisition and Food Sourcing Diary

According to my three-day food diary, I recorded data of three times meal in a day. I have not included the amount and conversions. The increased rise of agriculture evolvement and a lot of factors that have impacted either negatively or positively has significantly influenced my choice of diary history. Agricultural factors Include causes of the increase in agricultural production, the greenhouse revolution, agriculture biotechnology and agribusiness. To start with, an increase of agricultural output has affected the demand for some food commodities since the supply is very high prices go down, and demand stagnate. Dufour says if a population growth remains to have a tendency to grow faster than food, the natural outcome would be famine and poverty.

Secondly is the greenhouse revolution whereby production of food commodities is influenced by the newly high-yielding crop varieties, fertilizers, pesticides and modern mechanization to carry out farming as a whole. Growing food using irrigation during the dry season to has significantly helped the producers maintain a steady balance of food in the market. Improved biochemical control of pest has enabled producers to keep the quality supply of food stuff. Acquiring this food and knowing their source allows buyers to be alert to what is in the market so as not to have any side effects to human beings.

Agribusiness as the third factor that began with industrial revolution mostly in urban population. Agribusiness as a commercial subsistence agriculture business enables more people to get away from food production. Therefore the government is responsible for regulating the food produced. It checks the quality and mass treatment of food such as pasteurized milk, cheese, butter and other poultry products. Although the producers must cope up with the increased technology, they start using antibiotics and growth hormones to hasten the growth of food commodities.

Lastly is biotechnology which uses genetically modified food technology. Technology helps to preserve food, enhance food supply by integrating traditional breeding. Technology alters what is natural to either increase its life age or increase production which increases sales. Genetically modified food influences the buying process of food and customers must be aware when acquiring these food products.

Following the available food in the market, human being adapts to adjusted environment with the type of food commodities disposed of in the market. For human’s beings, there are two kinds of adjustment to diet adaptation which is biological and cultural. For instance, some people have a disorder of lactose intolerance, which is a biological adaptation to lactose digestion. Cultural perspective is a distaste for drinking milk which looks like urine. When trying to bring insights into why certain communities embraced milking while some do not, we shall look at factors such as the ecology of land and animals; traditional concern in cattle, goats, and dairying; biological adaptation to milk assimilation.

Acquiring food and knowing their source also calls for consumers to understand the interaction of food when eaten. Some foods inhibit absorption of some minerals when taken at the same time. For example, calcium assimilation in the body is affected by taking spinach. This food stuff contains oxalates that inhibit calcium assimilation in the body. Calcium is only absorbed in the presence of adequate vitamin D in the body. The type of food product to eat to increase calcium absorption in the body includes eggs, liver, and sunlight.

Adaptive reasons for the development of certain types of food like and dislike has been influenced by traditional cuisines and nutritional content of food. The degree to like and dislike for is affected by factors like nature of the food, life of the individual, organoleptic properties, availability, ease of acquisition and preparation as well as income.

Payment for environmental services, the establishment of formal voluntary conserved areas (VCA) and agricultural practices have significantly affected the distribution and prices of food. Community members have witnessed a decline in local crop productions, decline of the land preserved for agriculture and reduced fallow cycles after the newly advocated strategies. By accepting the newly conserved policies that prevent community to get access to ancestral land as well inhibiting hunting, dwellers in local villages have witnessed food security becoming less stable, contributing to a high reliance on outside food provisions.

Continuous firm conservation actions in the appearance of communal preservation might result in reduction in dietary diversity, agrobiodiversity, and related environment understanding. Suitable presentation of the protective measures is necessary to control the operational shift of local individuals as well as the growth of community inventiveness.

Entree to food markets that supplies local food is a significant reflection concerning the capability of buyers to participate in the local food system. Most of my food I acquired it through local conventional outlets, grocery, and large supermarkets. Personal food acquisition and sourcing is a transdisciplinary exploration of the influence of social, cultural and personal determinants.

Conclusion

Eating is a moral act, although we may not give it much attention when looking for the quality and nutritious food. Everything that we eat is a reflection of our core values and beliefs. Food acquisitions help us to interact with the society as well as affecting the political statement in a manner that the food we select influences other people’s choices. Keeping food diary benefits people in many ways especially in keeping tracks of what one eats and drink, make one be able to be focused on a diet, offer inspiration, raise effectiveness and help people achieve their dietary goals.

Modes of production and nutrition are the most important aspect of understanding the connection between the economics, and nutrition is to comprehend different major avenues of manufacturing that community has used to produce food. These modes include foraging, shifting cultivation, pastoralism, agriculture, and industrialization.

Works Cited

Gretel, Pelto H, Darna L. Dufour, and Alan H. Goodman. “The biocultural perspective in nutritional anthropology.” Nutritional anthropology. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company. (2000): 1-9.

Katz, Solomon H., and Mary M. Voigt. Bread and beer: The early use of cereals in the human diet. Expedition. 28. (1986): 23-34.

Lee, Richard B. Eating Christmas in the Kalahari. American Museum of Natural History, 1969. Print.

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