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A Dietary Study in North-Eastern Rhodesia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 August 2012

A. I. Richards  and
E. M. Widdowson
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Extract

The biochemist and the anthropologist look at native food problems from very different points of view, but it seems clear that research on African diets will be of scientific value only if there is co-operation between the two. Without chemical analysis it is impossible to know the composition of any particular native diet. Without a knowledge of the customs and language of any tribal area the necessary facts cannot be collected. The present article describes an attempt at co-operation along these lines, based on a study of the diet of a Northern Rhodesian tribe.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , April 1936 , pp. 166 - 196
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1936

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References

page 177 note 1 Infants in this community are weaned at about 2½ or 3 years, but from the third week on they are forcibly fed twice a day with about half a tea-cup of thin millet gruel; while from nine months or so they begin to become accustomed to adult food. Breast-fed infants were omitted in the assessment of the ‘man-values’.

page 177 note 2 A series of consecutive observations in one particular village at different seasons of the year would have been more valuable from the dietetic point of view. Mrs. Gore-Browne hopes to carry out such a study in co-operation with the Bio chemical Department of King's College Hospital, London.

page 180 note 1 All the observations were made in a year of unusual shortage. In an average year some families would have a supply of millet lasting from one year to the next. In Kasaka village, described as typical, six families out of fourteen still had small supplies of last year's grain when the new harvest was reaped.

page 183 note 1 Details of the method of calculation are given on p. 177.

page 185 note 1 The Physique and Health of Two African Tribes. Orr & Gilks, 1931.

page 185 note 2 A deficiency of calcium leads to malformation of the bones and teeth, but there is no evidence that an excess is in any way harmful.

page 187 note 1 First visit to the area from May 1930 to June 1931.

page 188 note 1 Sundays excluded, as all Bemba, whether Christian or pagan, observe the sabbath rest.

page 189 note 1 Chemistry of Food and Nutrition. Sherman 1933.

page 190 note 1 A careful, educated native householder receiving 12s. a month wages and 4s. food allowance, spent 7s. 9d. on food in March, 4s. in April, and 6s. 6d. in May.