Conserving indigenous knowledge as the key to the current and future use of traditional vegetables

Perceived nutrition benefits and socio-demographic factors affecting consumption of forest foods in eastern and southern Cameroon

“…The present study concurs with previous studies which revealed that educated Kenyans, South Africans and Ugandans who earn more than the less educated, viewed traditional and indigenous foods as food for the poor; hence having less preference to consume traditional and indigenous African foods as compared to the western processed foods (Tabuti et al, 2004;Kimiywe et al, 2007;Dweba and Mearns, 2011). In comparison with the consumption levels, of the uneducated in Kenya, South Africa and Uganda, educated populations have been found to consume less of wild and indigenous fruits and vegetables (Oniang'o et al, 2003;Pelto et al, 2004;Tabuti et al, 2004).…”

“…Multinomial regression analysis was performed based on previous studies (Kimiywe et al, 2007;Dweba and Mearns, 2011), where two age groups of (i) <46 years which is considered to be within the reproductive age for women who are energetic but constrained with the burden of baring children, and (ii) >46 years, which is beyond the reproductive age who have time but with diminished energy reserves, to adequately cater for their families were created, for comparison purposes (Onarheim et al, 2016).…”

“…Negative perceptions towards forest foods have been documented among rural communities in South Africa (Dweba and Mearns, 2011) and in Togo (Akpavi et al, 2008). The adoption of western lifestyle has also been reported to be associated with the reduction in indigenous knowledge on the use and preparation of several traditional African food dishes (Maundu, 1996;Akpavi et al, 2008).…”

“…Nutrient composition studies of forest foods reveal that some forest food species of plants and animals origin have high contents of essential nutrients and bioactive compounds (Maundu, 1996;Akpavi et al, 2008;Blaney et al, 2009;Dweba and Mearns, 2011;Penafiel et al, 2011;Powell et al, 2013;Fungo et al, 2015). A recent study in south and eastern Cameroon revealed that there is considerable potential for forest foods to contribute to intake of essential nutrients among consumers of these foods (Fungo et al, 2016a).…”

“…In Gabon, forest foods contribute 36% of total vitamin A and 20% of iron (Blaney et al, 2009), while in Tanzania 31% of RAE (vitamin A) and 19% of iron can be accessed in forest diets (Powell et al, 2013). Furthermore, traditional forest foods are usually referred to as "food for the poor" by the educated and a section of the elite urban residents in Africa, resulting in their neglect (Akpavi et al, 2008;Dweba and Mearns, 2011;Fungo et al, 2016b).…”