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Ancient diet is mainly determined by food's accessibility which involves location, geography and climate while ancient health is affected by food consumption apart from external factors such as diseases and plagues. There are still a lot of doubt about this ancient diet due to lack of evidence. Similar to what anthropologist Amanda Henry has said, there are a lot of time periods in the human history but there are only theories to answer questions on what people actually ate then. Only recently have traces been discovered in what was left of these people. [1]
Five crop plants form the bases for agricultural patterns in the Philippines. This includes rice, corn, yams and sweet potatoes, banana and coconut. Rice and banana are almost always present in the agricultural landscape and agricultural combinations include one or both crops. As food staples, three crops dominate - rice, corn, and yam-sweet potato group. Other crops are considered as complements, snack foods or seasonal. [3]
Poultry and fish are the main sources of meat in the Philippines. Pigs, chicken and water buffalos (carabao) are not only of importance to the Philippine rice economy but are also consumed by many Filipinos. But because the Philippines is located in the Indo-Pacific realm, the greatest center of fish life, the country is one that shares in this rich aquatic resource with a total of more than 21,000 species of fishes known to frequent its waters. [3]
Due to geographic conditions in the Philippines, native fish are preserved to combat rapid spoilage which includes preservation by drying, salting and smoking. In drying, large fishes are usually used to make daing while smaller fishes are used to make cuyo. Salting and wet-salting is a popular practice in areas that are relatively remote from large markets due to seasonality of fishing season. While smoking fish or the process of making tinapa is done by brining, cooking and smoking that is usually done in places surrounding Manila Bay such as Bataan and Rizal. [3]
Ancient people, especially Filipinos, don't have formal professional doctors. There are only men in each group or tribe who have knowledge of healing herbs and practices. These men are the so-called healers or curers of the group who were respected until they lose their reputation. These healers, who are also called albularyo today, know unique methods of determining the condition of his/her patients. Hilot and tawas are some of the ancient practices used to identify the health of certain individuals. No mineral medicines are used. They highly depend on the herbs, bark and roof of trees, leaves of plants and vegetables for their medicine. Ancient Filipinos also believe that their health is greatly affected or influenced by the spirits and natural forces around them. They make no attempt to explain or justify their “theories of disease” in a systematic and logical manner. They also believe that skin diseases are brought upon by a ‘theory’ of attachment to the body or sometimes, inherited from past ancestors. [5]
Ancient Filipinos did not believe that their diet and eating habits affect their health. They believed that allergies, food sensitivities and other diseases that may be seen outside of the body are effects of spirits’ actions. Diseases that don't have “outside of the body symptoms” like diabetes, heart disease, or kidney disease were ignored. They only believed that their diet can affect their teeth. To avoid tooth decay, they chewed betel nut or tobacco because they believe that these kill the “worms” that were brought by drinking water or eating food. [6]
Currently "very low consumption of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains were the main contributing factors for the poor quality of diet [...] fruits, vegetables and snack pattern was associated to a lower risks of cardiometabolic risks, lower risk of overweight, obesity, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and hypertension". [7]
The sweet potato or sweetpotato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable. The young shoots and leaves are sometimes eaten as greens. Cultivars of the sweet potato have been bred to bear tubers with flesh and skin of various colors. Sweet potato is only distantly related to the common potato, both being in the order Solanales. Although darker sweet potatoes are often referred to as "yams" in parts of North America, the species is even more distant from the true yams, which are monocots in the order Dioscoreales.
Latin American cuisine is the typical foods, beverages, and cooking styles common to many of the countries and cultures in Latin America. Latin America is a highly racially, ethnically, and geographically diverse with varying cuisines. Some items typical of Latin American cuisine include maize-based dishes arepas, empanadas, pupusas, tacos, tamales, tortillas and various salsas and other condiments. Sofrito, a culinary term that originally referred to a specific combination of sautéed or braised aromatics, exists in Latin American cuisine. It refers to a sauce of tomatoes, roasted bell peppers, garlic, onions and herbs. Rice, corn, pasta, bread, plantain, potato, yucca, and beans are also staples in Latin American cuisine.
The cuisine of Hawaii incorporates five distinct styles of food, reflecting the diverse food history of settlement and immigration in the Hawaiian Islands, primarily originating from Polynesian, North American and East Asian cuisines.[a]
Taro is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, stems and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in African, Oceanic, East Asian, Southeast Asian and South Asian cultures. Taro is believed to be one of the earliest cultivated plants.
African cuisine is an integral part of the continent's diverse cultures reflecting its long and complex history. The evolution of African cuisine is closely entwined with the lives of the native people, influenced by their religious practices, climate and local agriculture. Early African societies were largely composed of hunter-gatherers who relied on foraging for wild fruits, vegetables, nuts, and hunting animals for sustenance. As agriculture developed across the continent, there was a gradual shift to a more settled lifestyle with the cultivation of crops such as millet, sorghum, and later maize. Agriculture also brought about a change in diet, leading to the development of a variety of culinary traditions which vary by religion. Many African traditional dishes are based on plant- and seed-based diets.
Peruvian cuisine reflects local practices and ingredients including influences mainly from the indigenous population, including the Inca, and cuisines brought by immigrants from Europe, Asia, and Africa. Without the familiar ingredients from their home countries, immigrants modified their traditional cuisines by using ingredients available in Peru.
Filipino cuisine is composed of the cuisines of more than a hundred distinct ethnolinguistic groups found throughout the Philippine archipelago. A majority of mainstream Filipino dishes that comprise Filipino cuisine are from the food traditions of various ethnolinguistic groups and tribes of the archipelago, including the Ilocano, Pangasinan, Kapampangan, Tagalog, Bicolano, Visayan, Chavacano, and Maranao ethnolinguistic groups. The dishes associated with these groups evolved over the centuries from a largely indigenous base shared with maritime Southeast Asia with varied influences from Chinese, Spanish, and American cuisines, in line with the major waves of influence that had enriched the cultures of the archipelago, and adapted using indigenous ingredients to meet local preferences.
Ugandan cuisine consists of traditional and modern cooking styles, practices, foods and dishes in Uganda, with English, Arab, and Asian influences.
Yam is the common name for some plant species in the genus Dioscorea that form edible tubers.
The cuisine of the Democratic Republic of the Congo varies widely, representing the food of indigenous people. Cassava, fufu, rice, plantain and potatoes are generally the staple foods.
Belizean cuisine is an amalgamation of all ethnicities in the nation of Belize and their respectively wide variety of foods. Breakfast often consists of sides of bread, flour tortillas, or fry jacks that are often homemade and eaten with various cheeses. All are often accompanied with refried beans, cheeses, and various forms of eggs, etc. Inclusive is also cereal along with milk, coffee, or tea.
Fijian cuisine has long consisted of primarily foraged and farm-grown food. Although rice, wheat, and tea all became staples during Fiji's colonial era, native Fijians still eat primarily tubers and coconuts. The cuisine of Fiji is known for its seafood and various green vegetables, including ''ota'', a young forest fern, and ''bele'', a plant that resembles spinach.
A great variety of cassava-based dishes are consumed in the regions where cassava is cultivated. Manihot esculenta is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes.
Central African cuisine includes the cuisines, cooking traditions, practices, ingredients and foods of the Central African Republic (CAR). Indigenous agriculture in the country includes millet, sorghum, banana, yam, okra, yellow onion, garlic, spinach, rice and palm oil. Imported crops of American origin include maize, manioc (cassava), peanuts, chili peppers, sweet potato and tomato. Additional foods include onions, garlic, chiles and peanuts.
This is a categorically organized list of foods. Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is produced either by plants, animals, or fungi, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, and minerals. The substance is ingested by an organism and assimilated by the organism's cells in an effort to produce energy, maintain life, or stimulate growth.
Ube halaya or halayang ube is a Philippine dessert made from boiled and mashed purple yam. Ube halaya is the main base in ube/purple yam flavored-pastries and ube ice cream. It can also be incorporated in other desserts such as halo-halo. It is also commonly anglicized as ube jam, or called by its original native name, nilupak na ube.
A staple food, food staple, or simply staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet for an individual or a population group, supplying a large fraction of energy needs and generally forming a significant proportion of the intake of other nutrients as well. For humans, a staple food of a specific society may be eaten as often as every day or every meal, and most people live on a diet based on just a small variety of food staples. Specific staples vary from place to place, but typically are inexpensive or readily available foods that supply one or more of the macronutrients and micronutrients needed for survival and health: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, and vitamins. Typical examples include grains, seeds, nuts and root vegetables. Among them, cereals, legumes and tubers account for about 90% of the world's food calorie intake.
Pre-Columbian cuisine refers to the cuisine consumed by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas before Christopher Columbus and other European explorers explored the region and introduced crops and livestock from Europe. Though the Columbian Exchange introduced many new animals and plants to the Americas, Indigenous civilizations already existed there, including the Aztec, Maya, Incan, as well as various Native Americans in North America. The development of agriculture allowed the many different cultures to transition from hunting to staying in one place. A major element of this cuisine is maize (corn), which began being grown in central Mexico. Other crops that flourished in the Americas include amaranth, wild rice, and lima beans.