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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nSimple but very powerful process<\/strong> Simple food<\/strong> \u2013 Any food that requires simple preparation. This includes food that is consumed in a raw state. Each community can identify its simple food in order to see how much is disappearing or how much is completely new, coming from elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recipes, food rations and diverse ways of cooking\/preparation <\/strong>– Different ways of cooking\/preparing food like grilling, fermenting, smoking and others. What do these mean in local culture and languages?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dishes and moments of consumption<\/strong> – Communities can discuss the pros and cons of different dishes, more like a comparative discussion. How are communities preserving Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) around dishes and food preparation? How are indigenous fruits being transformed into several different dishes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beverages <\/strong>– Besides the common small grains-driven drinks, how many indigenous fruits are being processed into beers, wines and juices? How many indigenous beverages are being infiltrated or diluted by exotic ones?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Indigenous food preparation tools<\/strong> – These include traditional tools used to thresh small grains, pound tubers, ferment, winnow and utensils like clay pots, gourds and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sugars<\/strong> – Honey, sweet reads and sugar cane come under this category. Edible insects<\/strong> – In Masvingo district of Zimbabwe 27 different types of edible insects ranging from those that fly, those that live in the ground and those found in forests hanging onto trees were identified by the community. A lot are found at harvesting time \u2013 some are in the ground while others will be flying around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Value addition<\/strong> – This can be an important discussion for the community. For instance, why are few indigenous foods being processed? On the other hand, how can communities ensure processing or value addition does not trigger over-exploitation of indigenous food? Various types of preserving and storing food to increase shelf life can enable export development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rites and myths<\/strong> – This covers cultural rites, rituals and myths around food. For instance, some foods are used during traditional ceremonies and goats are used for marriage customs. These practices are part of IKS and, in the absence of supportive policies, can easily become extinct. In many African countries, some churches are demonizing indigenous food in ways that undermine production and consumption of such foods. When there is no demand from the young generation, there will be no demand or market in the next decades. Which food should be given to infants and young children? What type of food is prepared at a ceremony or at certain rituals like initiation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is a story behind each food category<\/strong> The good thing is that the African food basket can be contextualized. Instead of letting elders die with food knowledge, African leaders should be motivating the documentation of indigenous food systems. Each community needs an institution that can mobilize stakeholders and resources to document the local food basket and turn it into an investment guide. Once the local food basket is documented, it should find its way into education curricula for the young generation to learn about it. Communities are the ones with knowledge and just need platforms to share what they know through community dialogues which also provide communities an opportunity to semi-process the data and give their own positions and consensus. The communities can also provide key information including decisions on what can be done. Some solutions require community action while some need policy and government actors. They can control internal factors but require support to deal with external factors like climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While African food is abundant in most communities in a physical state, what is missing is knowledge which is the undocumented software around that food. That is where the food basket framework becomes critical in embedding knowledge within African food systems. What makes industrial agriculture a formidable force is not just physical inputs like seed, chemicals and fertilizer but also a powerful supply chain knowledge system with cold chains which are easily rolled out across countries and regions. The same can be done with indigenous food through African mass markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Charles@knowledgetransafrica.com<\/a> \/ charles@emkambo.co.zw<\/a> \/ One way African communities can build their own resilient food systems with minimum external support, especially under a changing climate, is pulling together information about their local food basket into an investment guide. Any investment from outside should be based on the community investment guide and not be imposed from the top. The process of Read more about Every African community can turn its food basket into an investment guide<\/span>[…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emkambo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3424"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3426,"href":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3424\/revisions\/3426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Collectively, communities can start by simply classifying their local food into field crops, fruits, animals, fish, vegetables, medical plants and other contextual classifications. The documentation process can also include mapping the role of all actors like indigenous breeders, artisans and traders who have become used to earning income daily from trading food commodities. Through community dialogues, communities can also classify their food baskets in the following manner:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Medicinal products – In most African communities you cannot talk about food without mentioning medicinal products and traditional herbs that are an integral component of local wellness and wellbeing. In Masvingo district one community volunteered information about 57 local medicinal products and their uses. Big mass markets like Mbare in Harare and Nsam in Yaounde have vibrant traditional herbs sections which are obviously part of the food system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After going through the process of building their local food basket, communities can realize there is a story behind each food category as food travels from production to consumption. The underlying story answers a question like what journey does food travel from its raw state to finished products? For instance, most indigenous fruits are consumed in a raw state. When these fruits are out of season, they are not available for consumption. If the food journey shows that 90% of indigenous food is at simple food category, what is the implication for food and nutrition security? If there are only two dishes, what is preventing indigenous fruits from finding their way into several products like cakes? Using this framework to answer such questions can help communities to be conscious of their food systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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