Food consumption in rural Burkina Faso

Abstract

Food diaries, kept by 13 households in Burkina Faso throughout one year, showed that rural people on average consumed between 1.8 and 2.9 meals per day typically consisting of a thick porridge, made from pearl millet or red sorghum, and a sauce of leaves mainly Corchorus spp. and Adansonia digitata, calyces from Bombax costatum, or groundnuts. Spices, such as chili, Parkia biglobosa "soumbala" and dried fish were frequently added. Vegetables and pulses were occasionally eaten, but meat and milk rarely so. Meals on average included 5.6 ingredients. The diet was monotonous with but a few frequently used products constituting the bulk of food intake. The study villages are presently changing from a traditional local based consumption pattern to an increased use of marketed products, because many traditional wild food products are increasingly difficult to find and imported products are becoming available from urban areas and fashionable to eat. In order to provide people with a well-balanced and nutritionally rich food intake and a high degree of food security, it is recommended that extension projects should work to secure the supply of nutritionally important traditional products and to diversify the food base by promoting the use of under-exploited secondary crops within existing land use systems.

Validity of photographs for food portion estimation in a rural West African setting

“…The typical meal contains a cereal staple food accompanied by a sauce of leaves or groundnuts 15 . An experimental food photograph album was compiled containing pictures of stiff cereal porridge, gruel, rice, couscous, rice with beans, liquid sauce, leafy sauce, and balls prepared from bean leafs.…”

Local Perceptions of Food Plants in Eastern Burkina Faso

“…Households from all parts of the village and adults of different ages were selected as informants in order to give as full a representation as possible. Households taking part in the study by Lykke et al (2002) took part in the present study, and the questionnaire and the selection of species were based on this Each interview consisted of two parts. The first part was highly structured, including 26 species, focusing on use (not used, used a little, used a lot) and reasons behind use: tradition, taste, health, new product, and no other choice (not a reason, a minor reason, a main reason).…”

“…Similar to the pattern for use, it was the informants from Silmiogou and informants with project-contact who more often stated taste as a reason. It could be that a combination of project-contact and a larger variety of food products in Silmiogou (Lykke et al 2002) relate to increased consciousness about taste in general.…”

“…A common dish is tô, a thick porridge from sorghum, millet, or maize, eaten with a vegetable sauce often including wild plants. Wild plants provide a nutritional contribution to an otherwise often monotonous diet , Millogo-Rasolodimby & Guinko 1996, especially in places where the diet rarely includes meat, milk, or modern cultivated vegetables (Lykke et al 2002, Mertz et al 2001. Furthermore, wild plants may Published: 05 August 2015 tained.…”

“…Two villages, Silmiogou and Ningaré in eastern Burkina Faso, participated in a diary-study in 1996-97, where the importance of wild plants in the daily food-intake was documented (Lykke et al 2002, Mertz et al 2001. Several underused species were pointed out, as well as an increased use of manufactured products, with significant differences between villages.…”